Wine Words & Video Tape

Wine, Words and Videotape

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Château Dauzac

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Address: 1 Ave. George Johnston, 33460 Labarde

Telephone:  05 55 88 32 10

E-mail: chateaudauzac@chateaudauzac.com

Website: www.andrelurton.com

Château Dauzac languished in the 1970s and 1980s was bought in 1988 by the MAIF insurance company and in 1992 they handed over the running of the Margaux estate to André Lurton who owns Château La Louvière in Pessac-Léognan amongst other chateaux. This is another property that has benefited from lots of investment and has a state of the art winery and barrel cellar. You need sunglasses to read the yellow label. 2007 was a success in a difficult vintage, the 2009 has settled but often the wines feel over-extracted to me.

Vineyard: 45 ha [40 AOC Margaux] on deep gravel soil planted with 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Merlot, double guyot, 10,000 vines per hectare with an average age of 18-20 years. Hand-picked and sorted at winery.

Winemaking/Elévage: Stainless steel temperature controlled vats, fermentation at 28-30C maceration three weeks depending on the vintage. Aged in 50-80% new oak for twelve months with rackings every three months. Egg white fined.

  • 2015 Deep and saturated look; purple at edge; pretty; emphasis on the fruit; creamy black cherry notes; some freshness alongside the blackcurrant jam tones; nice attack on the palate; good fruit; much more clarity than usual here; fruit is left to speak here rather than the winemaking; tight on the finish where the extract finally comes through; more measured and elegant Dauzac than usual – and all the better for it. [65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 13.5% alc]. Drink 2020-2030. 90-92
  • 2014 Deep and saturated look; tight to the rim; toasty; liquorice; black fruits and vanilla; savoury meaty notes; resin from the oak but there is fruit; blackcurrants and black fruits [plums]; some oak too on the palate but mostly absorbed; good effort with some freshness despite the oak regime. Bright finish. Little chew on the end. [68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot]. Drink 2019-2028. Tasted 31 March, 2015 at UGC. 87-89+
  • 2013 Mid depth; thick aromatics dominated currently by toasty oak; some black fruits beneath; chewy and sturdy palate; solid at first, then dry and a little puckering on the finish. This may yet settle as there is quite a bit of fruit, still I’d wait and see. Drink 2017-2025. Tasted UGCB April 2014. 84-86
  • 2012 Deep and saturated colour; tight to edge; quite lifted; slight parsnip note again; oak, apparent depth; palate a little less vegetal than earlier; lots of plush fruit and ripe Merlot; not too extracted but a chewy finish. 87-88 Tasted UGC Thursday April 11, 2013 [Earlier note] Deep and saturated colour; vegetal nose; parsnips, earthy notes and equally lush in some ways [on the nose] very soft and easy palate; lush and lashings of oak and saturated flavours; not that bad in a thick, melded way but not sure about the vegetal note. Chewy finish. 37% Merlot, 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 70% new oak 13% alc 85-87 Tasted UGC Tuesday April 9, 2013. Drink 2017-2027
  • 2011 Deep looking; deep and inky aromatics; thick and extracted on the palate which leaves the impression of a rather chewy and tannic wine. Not much fun. Drink 2015-2025. 84 UGC Oct ’13 [Earlier note] Deep and dense; some prettiness, some stone fruit; red fruits and some black too – not unattractive; some wet rocks; palate ripe and lots here, if modern styled; chewy and dry on the finish. Puckering. Acid? 85-87? Drink 2017-2025
  • 2010 Pretty, some red fruits, some oak and marzipan notes; black fruits and liquorice; quite sturdy with lots of fruit and plenty of extract. Very drying at end with lots of oak influenced. Disjointed. Not my style. 86/100 [Earlier] Deep and saturated; toasty meaty nose; lots of substance here; tar and liquorice; ripe and layered; quite meaty and deep, not that bad, good density without overdoing the extraction. Grip. Very good but not traditional Margaux.  88+/100 Tasted 5 April 2011 at UGC. [Second tasting] Deep and saturated; vibrant, some cough mixture, jam, coffee and chocolate; cassis dominant; palate feels a bit forced and palate more oaky and disjointed than earlier. Some bitter tannins. Feels overdone? Sample variation here. If it settles 88?/100 Tasted 7 April 2011 at UGC Drink 2018-2025
  • 2009 Deep and saturated look; toasty blackcurrant and plummy notes; lots of fruit and reasonable depth with a fair dollop of spicy and toasty oak; dryness to the palate. Lots of fruit but rather extracted style with a rather heavy use of oak. Better than I though it would be but not my style. Drink 2015-2025. 87 MW Institute Nov ’13 [Earlier note] Pretty saturated in colour; creamy notes; some cassis and fruit compote; oak and mocha tones; nice palate – this wine has settled down from what felt a raw monster primeur – quite meaty and still pretty tannic and chewy and extracted but more settled now. 88+/100 [Earlier] Very deep and inky; coffee and oak and extracted fruit nose; big and ripe nose; palate very big, some real ripeness but over extracted for me; reasonable concentration but feels over extracted. Stretched and overdone 86?/100 [Second tasting] Very intense coffee bean [toasty oak], palate very extracted and overdone. 86?/100 Tasted 30th March & 1st April 2010. Drink now-2025
  • 2008 Deepish, quite dense looking; some earth, spice and mealy qualities; slightly reductive whiff; palate feels a bit hollow and overplayed. Hard edge to the tannins and palate. 84 [Earlier] Deep red; quite sturdy nose, quite meaty with smoke and tar alongside red fruits and violets; palate quite settled and pretty good. Round. Not dry and tannic and feels that extraction has been quite nicely done. Pretty good effort. Good. 88/100 Drink now-2020
  • 2007 Deepish; earthy red at edge; some spice, coffee, fresh blackcurrant notes without the leafy, peaty notes; extracted palate; tannin feels dry and chewy, starting to meld maybe, but inky certainly. Fraction short. 84/100 [Earlier] Big colour; as bright at the Chateau’s yellow label; quite dense and intense big nose; very big palate; fruity and intense but big dry tannins here too suggesting it might have been over-extracted. Unusual in the context of the tasting.  May settle down into an interesting wine. 84-86?/100 Drink now-2020
  • 2006 Quite vibrant, deep but alive; some oak resin, some strawberry some cassis and intensity; quite lifted; palate quite full and concentrated, not over extracted [thank God], palate quite full and concentrated, not over extracted here but chewy with chocolate and mocha notes; not that bad effort with warmth at the end. 86-88/100 Drink now to 2020

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