2016 La Dominique

A wine with shape, form and balance, concentrated black fruits with chiselled precision. This is a great quality wine with promise and pleasure, full of black chocolate, liquorice bud, cigar box and baked earth. Slightly drying tannins on the finish, but there is a fresh mint kick that keeps things mouthwatering. 46hl/h yield, 3.65ph, harvest September 26 to October 18. Second year with Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, 60% new oak. Jean-Philippe Fort consultant.

The 2016 La Dominique has a feisty, intense bouquet that flirts with being overworked, though with aeration it appears to gain more cohesion and control. The palate is medium-bodied with quite dry tannins, grippy and assertive, though it needs more flesh to come through and keep everything on an even keel. This may well be closing down for a period and entering a dumb phase. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

Tasted blind. Rather sumptuous and interesting on the nose. Thick and sweet – fruit that almost disguises the tannins. Just a little more acidity would transform this into a perfect wine. Certainly one of the most distinctive of this flight of superior St-Émilion 2016s. A bit of heat. (JR)