2021 Le Dome, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Restrained, savoury, deep and rich. Cocoa powder and liquorice bud character on the attack, this is extremely good quality and one of the wines of the vintage. Has walls and floors, is concentrated yet supple and needs ageing. Cabernet Franc is a grape that tends to shuts down in the early years and this will do so, so I suggest giving it a few years in bottle before opening, but there are ripe, seductive fruits here and it is punching above the vintage conditions. Michel Longo new vineyard manager (moving over from Pavie), Thomas Duclos consultant, Neil Whyte head winemaker. No Pontet Labrie, Le Carre nor Les Astéries in the range this year. First year in the new €14 million new winery, designed by Sir Norman Foster. No chaptilisation, very late harvest into 3rd week of October.
Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux, May 2022

Polished and plush red with clove, dried lavender and dark-berry fruit. Full-bodied with firm, velvety and well-knit tannins. Lovely purity. Excellent length, too, with lingering spice notes. Lots to like. 80% cabernet franc and 20% merlot.
James Suckling, May 2022

The 2021 Le Dôme is the most powerful of Jonathan Maltus's wines this year. Strong Cabernet Franc inflections are front and center. Dark cherry, plum, mocha, dried herbs, incense and spice lend notable aromatic presence. Naturally the 2021 will need the better part of a decade to drink at its best, but it is quite impressive in this tasting.
Antonio Galloni, Vinous, May 2022

The 2021 Le Dome is a blend of 80% Cabernet Franc, picked 11 and 14 October, and 20% Merlot, picked 6, 7, and 11 October. Deep garnet-purple colored it is a little closed to start, soon unfurling to reveal scents of kirsch, black cherry compote, redcurrant jelly, and stewed plums, plus suggestions of pencil shavings, dried lavender, rosehip tea, and cinnamon toast. Medium-bodied, the palate sparkles with impressive energy, delivering mouth-filling red and black fruits with seamless freshness and very fine-grained tannins, leading to a long and minerally finish for this impressive wine. The pH is 3.71.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, May 2022

The 2021 Le Dôme includes fruit from Les Astéries this year due to frost damage, though Jonathan Maltus managed to retain the 80% Cabernet Franc. It is matured in 80% new oak. The nose is more backward than usual but I find this well-defined with blackberry, briary, touches of brown spice and a faint touch of mint. The palate is medium-bodied with a grainy texture. The Cabernet Franc comes through nicely this year…I wonder if that is because of the contribution of the Les Astéries? Well-balanced with quite a refined finish, this Le Dôme with its newfound elegance should age with style. Neal Martin, Vinous, May 2022

Continuing fully 80% Cabernet Franc and vinified in Maltus's new winery, the 2021 Le Dome bursts with aromas of violets, blackberries, sweet soil tones and dark chocolate. Full-bodied, ample and fleshy, with lively acids and powdery tannins, this perfumed, charming wine is unusually seamless and integrated at this early stage. Does this vintage mark a stylistic evolution for this cuvée?