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Two lots of THREE bottles.
Fresh from a previously unopened wooden case.
All are in perfect original condition.
Situated about 3/4 mile from the centre of Saint Emilion, Ch Larmande is one of the oldest estates in Saint Emilion. There is clear reference in 1585 in the St Emilion archives.
Now owned by a large French insurance company 'La Mondiale' the vineyard of 25 hectares is planted with 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged 16 to 18 months in French oak.
From the fabulously rich 2000 vintage, this excellent St Emilion will now, after 15 or so years in bottle, be approaching its apogee.
Cellartracker average of 12 notes is 89/100.
2/20/2015 - Julian Marshall Likes this wine: 92 Points
This came as something of a surprise. I've always liked Larmande, which provides undemanding, unchallenging, lightish wines that are not marred by oak or mocha flavours, roughly equivalent in Left Bank terms to a superior Cru Bourgeois. The 1995 was probably the best vintage I've had prior to this one.
The first thing I noticed was the colour, which seemed deeper than usual. The nose was not all that promising, with quite a lot of yeast and leather, before allowing notes of forest fruits and strawberries to come through towards the end. These developed better during the evening.
In the mouth, it's quite thick and unctuous, medium to full-bodied, with at first notes of black fruits, followed by the yeast, but then the wine takes off with a soaring middle section of strawberry, edging towards fraise des bois liqueur, then at the peak of the palate it blends into redcurrant with a touch of plum, before a long, persistent finish where the strawberry flavours dominate.
The balance is perfect, it isn't too strong, there's a freshness to the taste that ensures a lack of stodginess, so it drinks well by itself. I think above all, the fruit is ripe, rather than overripe and slightly burnt and it tastes to me like a Saint Emilion should taste, rather than how some would have us believe they should all taste.
I really enjoyed it, it put a smile on my face, it quite reconciled me with Saint Emilion. It's not a top notch wine, but not far off and I should think that the lack of any critical acclaim will mean that it can be found for a good price. The fruit has started to jammify but there's still a bit of puppy fat, so with the good structure I expect this to improve further. Highly recommended.
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