TN: 2003 Lilian-Ladouys

[Roel]

Château Lilian Ladouys St. Estèphe Cru Bourgeois Supérieur 2003: 55% cabernet sauvignon, 40% merlot and 5% cabernet franc was used in this extremely hot vintage. Pop and pour and enjoy the memorylane to my first visit to Bordeaux, 12 years ago. First sniff... Plum, black cherry, lavender, tobacco, coffee filter, cinnamon, some ink. Lovely! On the palate mostly black fruit, minerals, pine, mint, thyme, licorice, again tobacco and fortunately no espresso or overripe tones. St. Estèphe could handle the heat very well in 2003, although it's obvious because of the low acidity and exotic flavour profile that this ís 2003. Anyway, this wine is darn tasty. The finish with obvious tannins in support is long. It's more compact than a classified growth, but it's still well-made and very pleasurable. 90 points

[AKR]

I guzzled up a case of this in its youth. Was even better than the 90.

I picked up a few of the 09 recently, which seems to be well regarded.

[JimHow]

The 03 and 09 Lilian Ladouys had a buzz about them in the wine press.
Didn't Decanter or some such magazine have it up there in the wine of the year or bargain of the year realm or something like that?

[dstgolf]

Just had this tonight and second to last bottle of two cases down. I have enjoyed this value «bordeaux that has reached well over its head time and time again. No doubt this is 90+ points and I have not had a bottle less than enjoyable. Beautiful with bone in strip steak tonight. 1st bottle in a couple of weeks and hunkering for a reliable quaffer and did`not disappoint. I will be interested to see if the 09 and 10 will have as much to give as this under praised wine.

[AKR]

The 09 got some buzz, and by general popularity, seems to have been a bit of an improvement over recent years.

IIRC there wasn't much attention paid to the 03 on release. I remember mentioning contemporaneously that it drank well, and going back for lots more, but perhaps at the time there were other more impressive wines to go chasing from that AOC.

Now perhaps with the revitalization of the estate, and perhaps with unsold vintages still lurking around, the new halo is being used to move the older years. I see 03 L-L at my local wine store, right along with the 09 and 10, which is kind of odd.

[JimHow]

I think there was a sweet spot in St. Estephe and Pauillac in 2003, their soils and micro-climates were better suited for the weather.

[dstgolf]

Arv,

If the price is right on the 03 LL I wouldn't hesitate. I'd certainly buy more if it was still on the market.

[AKR]

Arv,

If the price is right on the 03 LL I wouldn't hesitate. I'd certainly buy more if it was still on the market.

I drank plenty of it when it was sub $200/cs, so not really enthralled at prevailing tariffs. And I've got enough other 03's....

[Roel]

I can recommend the 2010 as well. Stunning wine in my book.

[AKR]

Amazingly I got an email today that referred to both their 2003 and 1990 !

From Winex, a solid Southern California vendor, that has a good mail order / internet business. Their emails are worth reading in general, since they tend to have some content.

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Sometimes it is tough pushing the rock uphill. Change is a word that does not exist in most places of Bordeaux. For Lilian Ladouys, a beautiful chateau in St Estephe, it’s hard to overcome some of the short comings of the estate’s early years. On the Right Bank, properties like Ausone, Pavie, Angelus and Clos Fourtet among others all managed to turn around their properties with great success. But for some reason, the perception and acceptance of the turnaround (though a reality) is tougher to achieve on the Left Bank. While that is unjust for owner billionaire Jacky Lorenzetti who, since 2008, has been doing all the right things to produce great wine here, it is a benefit for you… at least for now. But folks, it won’t stay this way as the wine is now officially too good.

Why? Great terroir. If you were one of the lucky ones to pick up the 1990 from this estate when we offered it a few years back, you know the proof is in the pudding. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut and the 1990 Lilian Ladouys was a home run of which we could have sold twice the amount we did. Then, again, they made a tremendous wine in 2003 when the heat of the vintage paid off for those in the Northern part of the Medoc. The potential was clearly there.

The vineyard now covers about 100 acres and is planted to 59% Cabernet Sauvignon 37% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, and 1% Cabernet Franc from, on average, 35-year-old vines. Soils are a typically Saint-Estèphe mix of sandy/gravel, locally called "Peyrosols", and clay with some limestone deposits. Cover cropping, deleafing on both sides, and crop thinning were the new rule implemented under the management team of the late Vincent Mulliez (Bolaire, Belle-Vue, and Gironville) and his enologist, Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen.

The fruit for the Chateau Lilian Ladouys St. Estephe 2018 was hand-harvested between October 3rd and October 17th then table-sorted. Then the whole berries were fermented in stainless steel tanks with a 45-60-day maceration followed by a 7-day cold soak. Extraction was achieved through regular, gravity-driven, délestages (a gentle pump over of the juice). A portion of the harvest underwent malo in barrels where it spent six months on the post-malo lees. Aging took place in 30% new barrels from François Frères (25%), Taransaud (30%), Darnajou (15%), Sylvain (8%), Seguin Moreau (7%), and Francis Miquel (1%) for 16 months.