2016 Le Dôme St.-Émilion Grand Cru 750 ml

Not so long ago, one of the top selling points of cult Right Bank estate Le Dôme was that it sat next to Premier Grand Cru Classé A icon Château Angélus. Now, every St.-Émilion château should be bragging about being neighbors with Le Dôme.

That’s because in the sensational 2016 vintage, the peerless garagiste estate produced one of the greatest wines in all of France. The only Bordeaux to earn 100 points from both Wine Enthusiast and Jeb Dunnuck, this collector’s item landed alongside not only its $550 neighbor Angélus, but $900+ First Growths Lafite and Mouton as well. Not bad for an upstart with a tiny eight-acre vineyard and a mere quarter-century of history.

One sip of Le Dôme, and it’s obvious why this wine rocked the Right Bank from the get-go, and why it’s rubbing elbows with Grands Crus that have been lauded for centuries. Showing a gem-like ruby color, the Cabernet Franc-dominant blend is fragrant with lavender-laced black cherries, cassis, and anise. A sip shows a fine-knit, silky tapestry with generous red and black fruit, and a beguiling combination of intense power and ethereal delicacy. Built on a frame of tightly-woven tannins, it’s nearly impossible to resist now, but will thrive in the cellar for two decades or more. 

This is a Bordeaux collector’s item that sits at the top of the heap, with wines that often flirt with and eclipse the four-digit price point. Two main differences, though: Le Dôme is made in a laughably tiny quantity—about 10% of what Angélus makes—and the price is barely a quarter of comparable First Growths. That makes the flawless 2016 a cellar must-have. 

We don’t have enough room to print the critical praise for this wine. Wine Enthusiast, along with giving it a perfect score, named it their #11 Cellar Selection of the year. Dunnuck called it “a brilliant, brilliant wine that does everything right,” and “unquestionably one of the most flamboyant, sexy, opulent wines in the vintage.” Antonio Galloni simply called it “arrestingly beautiful.” 

Since taking Bordeaux by storm in the 1990s, St-Émilion’s vins de garage have become some of the most sought-after and elusive bottles in the world—and Le Dôme is one of their standard-bearers. Sitting next door to Premier Grand Cru Classé A Château Angélus, Le Dôme’s eight-acre vineyard shares a similar sandy soil over layers of limestone and iron. But as a newcomer, it does not enjoy the status—nor, thankfully, the price tag—of its renowned neighbor. 

Le Dôme is known for its unconventional blend of 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot, and everything about the wine’s production is geared toward maximum quality. The selection is rigorous: Two or three runs of green harvests typically remove all but four intensely concentrated grape clusters from vines that would normally produce as many as ten. Careful pruning of the canopies exposes clusters to more sunlight, abetting ripening and enhancing the deep fruit characteristics of the wine. At harvest, the grapes are sorted twice—first by bunch, and after destemming, grape by grape. The wine ferments and ages in new French oak, imparting lavish toast to the wine’s fantastic opulence.

The result is one of Bordeaux’s one-of-a-kind wines—one that is made in tiny amounts, but bears the quality of a First Growth. The 2016 is one of the best ever made, which means it’s the definition of a must-have cellar showpiece.