Mission Codename Off the dôme
The 2018 Fombrauge is SOLD OUT, thank you.
Yet we do have a Double Agent 2018 Saint-Émilion for ya next: HERE COMES THE BOOM!
Jeb Dunnuck calls it “Haut Couture at its finest” and we can’t help but agree.
Like a trap house beat drop hitting at the perfect moment to electrify every last one of your dopamine-firing neurons, LE DÔME has returned.
How do you upstage a $550 Château Angélus Premier Grand Cru Classé A? Or compete with the $1,000+ Lafites or Moutons?
There’s only one answer.
Le Dôme! The cult garagiste rarity with QUINTUPLE 97-point scores?! WAY UNDER $200?!
Le Dôme always brings the BOOM factor. Robert Parker called Le Dôme a “Cheval Blanc look-alike.” That rings true here, but the price couldn’t be any different (expect to pay upwards of $1,000 for a top Cheval vintage.)
We owe it to your support. Evert JCP Maltus wine we offered has vanished in record time - from the best of Bordeaux (Les Astéries) and Napa Valley (World’s End), and now this - the cherry on the cake. The pearl of the portfolio. The COOLEST winery centuries-old Bordeaux has ever seen.
When Agents Noir and Vine made the pilgrimage to Le Dôme last year they could not stop talking about it for months. Parked right between Angelus and Le Mayne, this special 8-acre plot shares a similarly sandy soil on top of limestone and iron.
The vineyard is meticulously farmed for this special wine. Multiple culling of green harvests leave just a handful of clusters to ripen - where there could be ten you find just four. Careful pruning opens the grapes up to the sun, and at harvest, the grapes are sorted twice - first by bunch, then after destemming, grape by grape. From there the star treatment continues with aging in new French oak which levels up the lavish, toasty, expensive tasting profile.
One sip and you’ll understand the fuss. Black cherries dusted with lavender, pure cassis, kirsch, fresh black licorice, blueberry pie, and notes of Chinese five spice and crushed stone. The very definition of opulent. It finishes long, has the ability to age decades, and delivers a positively thrilling experience. Not 1, not 2, but FIVE 97 points with upside.
Will you be one of the lucky ones who taste it?
Move fast ‘cause there’s precious little to spare. The burning question: how long until it sells out?
97+ Points – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“Le Dôme is from the JCP Maltus portfolio of skillfully crafted Saint-Émilion wines. Neil White is the head winemaker and Thomas Duclos is a consultant here. The 2018 Le Dôme is composed of 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot, with a 3.82 pH and 14.3% alcohol. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it slips sensuously from the glass with beguiling scents of blackberry pie, kirsch, blueberry preserves and plum pudding, plus suggestions of menthol, rose oil, pencil shavings and fragrant earth. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers fantastic energy and freshness, featuring loads of perfumed red and black fruit layers and a firm, very finely grained texture, finishing on a lingering mineral note. Stylistically, this is one of the most elegant vintages of Le Dôme that I’ve tasted - and I love it! Drink 2025-2050.”
97+ Points – Jeb Dunnuck
“A beautiful wine in every sense. Based off 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot brought up in the usual 80% new barrels, it’s a full-bodied, beautifully textured, seamless Cabernet Franc with loads of red currant, blueberry, and mulberry fruit as well as notes of cedary herbs, flowers, camphor, and new saddle leather. Always a singular, distinct wine given its high percentage of Cabernet Franc, it’s brilliantly concentrated and has ultra-fine tannins as well as a great finish. Haut Couture at its finest, it’s going to benefit from 4-6 years of bottle age, and I suspect, keep for 30 years or more. Drink 2025-2055.”
97 Points, Cellar Selection – Wine Enthusiast
“A wine that celebrates Cabernet Franc, this comes from a parcel on the lower slope of Saint-Émilion. Its perfumed richness is profound and dense in structured black fruits. Old vines give concentration and add to the great power behind it all. This is a wine to age; drink from 2026.”
97 Points – The Wine Independent
“The 2018 Le Dôme is composed of 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot. Deep purple-black in color, it needs considerable swirling to unlock notes of wild blueberries, black raspberries, and chocolate box with touches of rosehip tea, aniseed, and candied violets. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has beautiful freshness and very fine-grained tannins supporting the expressive blue and black fruit layers, finishing very long and fragrant. Drink 2026-2047.”
97 Points – Decanter
“High toned and very ripe on the nose - really heady and perfumed black, jammy fruits. Big and dense, but more in the flavours rather than the texture here, you get a lot of liquorice and the Cabernet showing its star power - dark and brooding with layers of complexity, acidity and concentration. Completely different in style to the 2019 - this is perhaps a little quiet right now to some extent, just waiting for it’s time to shine. Potentially has more grip and structure to go the distance while the 2019 may end up being more elegant. This has character though with a lovely chalky minerality. A bold, imposing wine. Drinking window 2028-2048.”
What the Winery Says
2018 St.-Émilion Grand Cru
- Winemaker
- Jonathan Maltus
- Varietals
- 80% Cabernet Franc, 20% Merlot
- Vintage
- 2018
- Alcohol
- 14.5%
- Appellation
- Saint-Émilion, Libourne
- Terroir
- Lieu-dit Les Verdiannes
- Soils
- Sand over crasse de fer
- Vineyard size
- 20 hectares
- Vines planted
- 1960-1970
- Aging
- 18 months
- Barrels
- 80% new French oak