Château LARCIS-DUCASSE 1997
Very lively, exceptional for the vintage.
Château Larcis Ducasse is still owned today by the family, Jeanne Attmane and her brother Jacques-Olivier Gratiot, both co-managers, and their children. Since 2002, the family has entrusted the management to Nicolas Thienpont.
Located in the historic perimeter of the Plateau and the Grande Côte, where the majority of the 1st Grands Crus Classés of Saint-Emilion rub shoulders, the Château Larcis Ducasse vineyard benefits from a terroir with exceptional natural qualities. Made up of a grouped plot of 11 ha, it is neighboring to the west of Château Pavie and to the north of Château Troplong Mondot.
Larcis Ducasse occupies the end of the famous Pavie coast. The southern exposure is wonderful. The terroir on the terrace worthy of a premier grand cru.
Château Larcis Ducasse is currently planted with 78% Merlot and 22% Cabernet Franc, all at a density of 6,000 vines per hectare, with an average age of around 35 years.
A program of continuous renewal of the vineyard is set up over a rotation of approximately 50 to 60 years. After uprooting and 4 years of intercropping for the rest of the soil, we are replanting at higher densities, today approaching 7,500 vines per hectare, vines made from qualitative clones or more often from mass selections. Indeed, in order to preserve our diversified wine heritage, we have implemented a major selection program for the oldest vines based on exclusively qualitative criteria.
In the vineyard of Château Larcis Ducasse, Merlot is in the majority (78%), fully benefiting from the clay-limestone soils on which it expresses all its roundness, its generosity, its flexibility and its breed.
Attractive very early on by its gluttony, it gives from its youth wines that are both powerful and silky, very fruity, with spicy and floral notes.
As it ages, the fruity notes of cherry and blackberry fade away, giving way to a bouquet with more complex evolved notes, ranging from truffles to undergrowth through other spicy notes.
Cabernet Franc: Planted in Larcis Ducasse on its preferred soil, clayey-sandy more or less calcareous, it gives very elegant, aromatic wines, with firm and fine tannins. Marked young by its aromas of red fruits, in particular strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants, it also develops notes of tobacco and violet.
In assembly, it brings freshness, aromatic complexity, finesse and elegance without forgetting its great aging capacity.
