1978 | Château La Lagune | Haut-Medoc

The 1978 Château La Lagune is drinking splendidly out of magnum today, offering up a bright and complex nose of cassis, cigar ash, dark soil tones, a nice touch of graphite, cedar and a topnote of tobacco leaf. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and beautifully balanced, with a good core, tangy acids, fine focus and grip and still a touch of tannin (in magnum) on the long and complex finish.

Reviews:

• John Gilman: The 1978 Château La Lagune is drinking splendidly out of magnum today, offering up a bright and complex nose of cassis, cigar ash, dark soil tones, a nice touch of graphite, cedar and a topnote of tobacco leaf. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and beautifully balanced, with a good core, tangy acids, fine focus and grip and still a touch of tannin (in magnum) on the long and complex finish. This is a very strong vintage for La Lagune and is a prime example of why this property remains a very fine Third Growth.

• Vinous: The 1978 La Lagune has a deep garnet core with moderate bricking on the rim. It has quite a potent smoky, meaty nose with dried leaves; later a crushed violet scent borrowed from up in Margaux. The palate is medium-bodied with faint coarse tannin but it has a good sturdy body for the vintage. There is something quiet ferrous about this La Lagune: masculine, structured like many 1978s, but demonstrating fine complexity with a tingle of black pepper and sage towards the slightly attenuated finish. It is unapologetically old school Claret and there is nothing wrong with that.

Producer Information

Château La Lagune is an wine estate in the Haut-Médoc region, just north of Bordeaux city and ranked as a third growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification. The highest-ranked estate bearing the Haut-Médoc title, its grand vin is made predominantly from Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller amounts of Merlot and Petit Verdot. The wine is generally elegant and aromatic, in a similar vein to the wines of Margaux some 10km (six miles) north of the estate. Most vintages can be approached at a relatively youthful age. The organically farmed vineyard covers 80 hectares (200 acres) on a south-facing gravel hill of well-drained, white pebbles which reflect the sun back onto the fruit – an aid to ripening. The estate is planted to 65 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, with 30 percent Merlot and 5 percent Petit Verdot. A second wine, Moulin de La Lagune, is produced from younger vines which do not make the grade for the grand vin. Since 2004, a third wine, Mademoiselle L, has been made from another 30-hectare (74-acre) plot further down the La Lagune slope. It is a 50-50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and is intended to be drunk young. In the gravity-fed winery, the grapes pass along three separate sorting tables for strict selection before being dropped in to one of 72 thermo-regulated stainless steel vats, which vary in size between 2200 and 20,000 liters to cater for different vineyard plots. The grand vin is blended before being placed for 18 months in French oak barrels (55 percent of which are new). On average 18,000 to 20,000 cases (up to 240,000 bottles, or 180,000 liters) of the various wines are produced per year. The property was founded in 1724, and boasts a beautiful mansion house built in that time. However, by the 1950s the property was nearly derelict following the deprivations of World War II and its aftermath, economic depression, and the frosts of 1956. It was rescued in 1958 by Georges Brunette, although rising costs forced him to sell the property on within a few years. Since 2000 the property has been owned by the Swiss billionaire Jean-Jacques Frey and his family. Their other wine interests include Maison Jaboulet in the Rhône, Château de Corton-C in Burgundy (previously known as Château de Corton-André but renamed by Frey after his takeover in 2014) and a 45 percent stake in the Champagne house Billecart-Salmon. As well responsibilities covering a number of these holdings, high-profile head winemaker Caroline Frey (daughter of Jean-Jacques) also makes wine from a small vineyard in Fully, in the Swiss Valais wine region. She also oversees winemaking at La Lagune.

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