La Lagune 2020

The 2020 La Lagune has turned out beautifully, offering up aromas of cassis, dark berries, loamy soil and sweet spices, followed by a medium to full-bodied, velvety, layered palate that exhibits excellent depth and concentration structured around powdery tannins, concluding with a perfumed, violet-inflected finish. This is a strong effort and a worthy, somewhat more muscular follow-up to the sensual, charming 2019. 2025 - 2055

The 2020 La Lagune has a lovely bouquet of pure, very perfumed black fruit laced with violet petals and undergrowth. The oak is very well integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, classic in style and harmonious, building notes of cedar, black pepper and tobacco toward the finish. Excellent. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. 2028 - 2055

A focused and savory red with sleek and tight tannins. Very precise. Medium-bodied with fresh herbs, currants, blackberries and oyster shells. Stones and dried flowers, too. Fine finish. Tannins are round and complete. Already approachable. From biodynamically grown grapes. Better after 2025.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2020 La Lagune strides confidently out of the glass with bold, fantastically pure black fruit notes of crushed black plums, ripe blackcurrants and juicy blackberries, plus hints of tar, dried Provence herbs, star anise and smoked meats, with a hint of black truffles. The medium-bodied palate delivers tightly wound, bright, crunchy black fruits with plenty of freshness and an approachable, grainy texture, finishing long with loads of earthy and herbal sparks. 2026 - 2042

This comes in strong with both grip and attitude. Some austerity that shows through in the abundant tannic frame, but there is a juiciness that runs through the palate, a sense that it is light on its feet. Liquorice, black chocolate and a spiced tomato leaf adds layers, but things close down on the finish. This is certified organic and in biodynamic conversion. A yield of 30hl/ha.

Drinking Window 2028 - 2040

Full bottle 1,356 g. Cask sample. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot. Certified organic and in conversion to biodynamic farming.
Very dark with purplish rim. Pure left-bank Cabernet aroma that is both intensely cassis but also with a layer of cedar and a hint of stone-dust minerality. A freshness to the aroma without obvious herbaceousness. Super-fine tannins. Pure and fresh on the palate, a hint of dark chocolate and already showing real elegance in the finesse of the dry almost sinewy tannin texture. Lovely young wine without extremes. (JH)
Drink 2025 – 2035

The 2020 is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot which will be aged in French oak for 14 months. This is one of the highest proportions of Merlot in the last 20 years. Deep ruby colour with a meaty nose of game, briary and bramble fruits. The palate is bursting with sweet cherries that are tempered by crunchy, ripe tannins. The oak is spicy and noticeable, but harmonised by the intensity of fruit. Vibrant and bright on the finish.

(65% CS, 30% M, 5% PV; 65% harvest; 35hl/ha; 14% ABV; 50% new)
Fresh black fruit and minerals, very pure, fresh and fine; concentrated, vital, finely tannic, in the slightly crisper style of some Left-Bank wines of the year; freshly ripe, rather than “sweet” as such, dense with an almost salty sapidity, and with a superfine tannic frame, a sort of close-knit velvet texture; compact, distinctly minerally aromatic, and with terrific persistence. A pure, classy, very individual and beautiful wine of great finesse. 2030–50+.