2005 Larmande, St-Emilion

The 2005 Larmande is a very successful example of the vintage in St. Emilion, and was one of my favorites that I tasted at the Union des Grands Crus tasting. The winemaking here has a toe in the water of the modern school, but it has not jumped in headfirst, and the wine has retained some sense of terroir and structural integrity as a result. The new oak here is hefty at sixty-five percent, and the malolactic fermentation here was done in a blend of some barrels and some tank. Nevertheless, the wine is complex and classy on both the nose and palate, as it offers up a fine nose of black cherries, plums, blood orange, chocolate, fresh herb tones and a more than generous (but integrated) coating of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, round and complex, and most impressively, displays a fine base of soil on the attack, with firm, well-integrated tannins (many seeming to hail from fruit skins, rather than oak), excellent acidity and fine length and grip on the rather classically shaped and complex finish. A very impressive 2005. (Drink between 2014-2040)

Mid crimson. Dark chocolate aromas on the rather vivid nose. Sweet fruit and very mellow palate. Much more forward than most, with a little tannic residue on the end. Quite a charmer, but with ambition too.