Château Lascombes 2022 La Côte Lascombes Bordeaux 96
It appears that Axel Heinz aims to do at Château Lascombes what he did at Ornellaia and Masseto. My sampling the stunning 2022 La Côte Lascombes, the first vintage, tells me that he will succeed. Since he joined Château Lascombes in August 2023, he didn’t even make 2022 La Côte; he selected the barrels of young Merlot, blended them, and finished it. I can’t wait to taste subsequent vintages when he controls the harvest, pressing, and winemaking.
Heinz, the winemaker responsible for catapulting Ornellaia and Masseto onto the world’s stage, has taken command as Managing Director (and winemaker) at Château Lascombes, a Margaux property classified as a second growth in the 1855 Médoc Classification. With its 120-ha of vineyards, the largest in Margaux and among the largest in all of the Médoc, often failed to live up to its potential. According to Heinz, Lascombes has made “very decent wines” in the past, but “never any truly great ones.” Merlot accounts for roughly half of Lascombes’ plantings and of its blend, making it unusual for the Left Bank and accounting, in large measure, for its heretofore voluptuous style.
Heinz’s focus is two-fold: make a more elegant Grand Vin by realigning the blend to a usual Left Bank Cabernet Sauvignon-heavy one, and use only the best, or core, plots for it. In turns out that one of those historically great spots was a roughly 5-ha patch of Merlot planted on blue clay sitting atop a limestone base, a soil composition like that at Château Petrus and Masseto. That’s the source of La Côte Lascombes, a monovarietal Merlot-based wine.
Some might criticize making a super special cuvée, like La Côte, detracts from the regular blend. So-called “Reserve” wines, especially from the New World, often do exactly that. But not in this case, because Heinz’s realignment of the blend to focus on Cabernet Sauvignon, actually freed up the Merlot for La Côte. So, La Côte was a magnificent by-product of Heinz’s vision to make Lascombes a more refined wine.
The youthful and fleshy 2022 La Côte Lascombes sings. Weighing in at a 14 percent stated alcohol and despite its remarkable power, this fresh and lively gem is not a bit overdone. It seamlessly combines floral aspects with dark mineral ones. Its suaveness is emblematic of the Margaux appellation while its overall refinement is a testimony to Heinz’s ability to select and blend. Drinking window: 2032-2052.
October 27, 2025