A serious Grand Cru from the Saint-Émilion appellation in Bordeaux.
The blend here is is 60% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Delicious nutty oak, with smoky nuances, and plenty of deep, fruit-cakey, plummy fruit. Intense and powerful fleshy plum and cassis on the palate, supple and well composed, with a gentle texture and a slightly nutty finish.
Aged 18 months, 60% new barrels, 40% one year old barrels.
The vineyards of Larmande lie a little over one kilometre to the north of the town of St-Emilion itself, and are planted on a variety of terroirs, principally (accounting for 70% of the vines) on ancient sandy soils as is typical of much of the right bank, but with some more desirable but admittedly smaller zones of clay with flint (15% of the total) and clay with limestone. Vineyard practices are sound with ploughing to reduce weeds rather than herbicides, bunch-thinning and finical manual harvesting.