La Commanderie de Bordeaux in Vancouver, under the excellent leadership of Le Maitre Fred Withers, Cellarmaster Alvin Nirenberg, and their dedicated team, offers wonderful educational insights into the diversity of Bordeaux wines. Another example was shown on May 25, 2026 at Boulevard Restaurant featuring four older vintages (both ending with their celebrated 1982) from two different lesser-known, now good-value properties: Chateau La Lagune in Ludon at the start of the southern Médoc, & Chateau La Dominique in St. Emilion (adjacent to Pomerol). It was interesting to compare these properties with their quite different stylings. La Lagune has long been a favourite of your scribe and has been featured several times on this Blog including linked here on July 3, 2018 providing more details. Generally it tends towards a Margaux/Graves terroir combination, offering a lighter, elegant, charming, and well-balanced red Bordeaux style. La Dominique, on the other hand, is primarily Merlot (with increasing Cabernet Franc) grown on clay soils, resulting in a fuller bodied statement with ever-improving modernization and much better results since 2011. During my frequent Bordeaux visits in the seventies and eighties I often stayed at nearby Chateau Montlabert (next to Chateau Figeac) and toured La Dominique—which then was simpler, more rustic, and relatively unknown with new owners. The de Bailliencourt family (also long time and current owners of Chateau Gazin in Pomerol) owned it since 1933, and they sold it to the Fayat family in 1969. Both properties are presently on an encouraging upswing.
We started this evening with 2010 PLOYEZ-JACQUEMART BLANC DE BLANCS EXTRA BRUT from this family house, established in 1930 and now in its third generation. It’s quite a popular brand presently in Western Canada with two good value NV Extra Quality Brut offerings both disgorged last year in 2025: one from 2018 62C/14PN/24PM at 5.5 & the other from 2019 of 50C/36PN/14PM at 4.5. Both are worth checking out. This 2010 is 100% Chardonnay disgorged after 12 years *sur lattes* with a 5 g/l dosage, offering an open, full, generous, tropical, brioche, toasty aperitif. We finished with a special 50th Anniversary bottle of 1976 CHATEAU DE FARGUES SAUTERNES. At that time, both this property and d’Yquem were managed by Lur Saluces using a similar formula of 80% Semillon & 20% Sauvignon Blanc – plus even the older d’Yquem oak casks. Forwardly mature drier full creme brûlée paired well with the cheese course.
2021 CHATEAU LATOUR-MARTILLAC BLANC: Blend of 57% Sauvignon Blanc & 43% Sémillon, harvested September 9-21 at 13% ABV shows juicy, floral, zesty, fresh green apple notes from the still-dominant SB.
2021 CHATEAU DE FIEUZAL BLANC: Similar blend from the Quinn family (65% SB/35% Sémillon) harvested earlier September 1-13 at 12.5% ABV shows fennel with fresh lemon-lime zest but is again quite young before the Sémillon has time to develop a richer dominance. Both whites paired well with the Crudo Hamachi with Meyer lemon puree.
2008 CHATEAU LA LAGUNE: Blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 10% Petit Verdot shows quite dark intensity. Open aromas and supple, softening, drier-than-expected flavours finishing with a touch of acidity. It was acceptable for earlier consumption, but I expected more fruit though it showed better with the innovative Pasta course.
2005 CHATEAU LA LAGUNE: Dark similar blend offers better fruit sweetness and a more balanced structure. Solid engaging style preferred over the 2008, but now more accessible than expected for this super-star vintage. Enjoy currently
1986 CHATEAU LA LAGUNE: It showed some youthful notes initially, with firm tannins rounding out, but it was a bit austere overall. It was drying and not the best bottle at only 12.5% ABV. However, it lacked the impressive depth of the 1986 Chateau Meyney St. Estèphe tasted this week.
1982 CHATEAU LA LAGUNE: It had big expectations but not as brilliant as the Margaux-like beauty from the 2018 Blog tasting. It was an easy group favorite here, but this time it was earthier, drying out and lacked vibrancy, though it showed much better quality than the earlier three vintages. Bottle variation from storage and ullage at 40+ years is expected. Current vintages of ’22, ’19, ’16, ’15, and older ’09 & ’85 have lovely charming pure terroir that is more reliable these days.
2014 CHATEAU LA DOMINIQUE: Blend of 85% Merlot (harvested September 26 to October 5) & 15% Cabernet Franc (October 7-14), aged for 14 months in oak (60% new) at 14% ABV. Full, spicy, rich, modern styling from Jean-Luc Thunevin, who has consulted since 2007. Young, no rush. It shows versatile depth with the duck breast and morel mushroom cream.
2012 CHATEAU LA DOMINIQUE: More Merlot (harvested earlier at September 8-13) at 95% & less Cab Franc (later October 15) at 5% but both vintages yielded only 36 hl/ha at 14% ABV. Bigger richer blueberry & cherry Merlot fruit statement. This vintage clearly shows the Merlot variety to advantage.
1998 CHATEAU LA DOMINIQUE: Served from Magnums from a respected Right Bank year. It was surprising that it had less density than expected. Fresh, clean, balanced, lightweight, very St. Emilion styled. Current enjoyment.
1982 CHATEAU LA DOMINIQUE: First bottle very musty bad TCA issue. Another bottle had mushroomy, roasted notes not a typical 1982 signature. It showed the big more rustic old style of this property 40 years ago. Spicy and different but variable and lacks elegance.
I recommend the more elegant mocha plummy quality fruit of their current vintages more highly – especially 2022 and 2020.
You might also like:
 |
 |
 |