Interview: New Château Lascombes owners plot big changes

At Château Lascombes during Bordeaux en primeur week in April 2023, Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy Jr (MS) and I were sitting on a saggy, slightly dingy sofa in a reception room.

‘This couch will have to go,’ he says, laughing, but his frown told me replacing it was already on a list.

He’s the detail-minded, ambitious 38-year-old managing partner of Lawrence Wine Estates, founded five years ago by American billionaire Gaylon Lawrence Jr, who is now a major player in the US wine world.

In 2022, the pair acquired their first Bordeaux property: Château Lascombes in Margaux, a second growth in the 1855 Classification.

On the vast lawn outside was a hint of the future. The Château was hosting the official Union des Grands Crus 2022 en primeur trade tasting for the Margaux appellation and a fancy glassed-in structure welcomed attendees for lunch.

Given this was the new ownership’s first official tasting, it signalled that Lawrence intends to be visibly active in the Bordeaux community and brings the personal commitment and financial resources to upgrade an estate that needs both.

Buyer background

McCoy and Lawrence already have a track record in Napa for innovation and quality that bodes well for Château Lascombes’ future.

Lawrence snapped up the historic Heitz Cellar in 2018, hired Master Sommelier McCoy, and since then they’ve purchased and revamped iconic estates Stony Hill and Burgess Cellars (both 2020); created wineries for storied Napa vineyards Ink Grade (spun-off from Heitz) and Haynes (bought in 2019); and launched less-expensive brand Brendel (2021) as well as an import/négociant firm, Demeine Estates (2020).

Burgess Cellars Cabernet shows the most immediate style change, with the 2021 far more precise and transparent than the winery’s previous richer, more rustic wines.

‘With Château Lascombes, we’re taking our time,’ says McCoy. ‘We come here humbly and excited. But also with principles: we won’t go on a path just to please people.’

They’re keeping most of the team, as well as consultant Michel Rolland, who has been there since 2001 and, as McCoy explains, ‘has lots of experience with the Château.’

New CEO Axel Heinz, hired after they interviewed 20 candidates, will lead the new direction. Famous for his tenure at Italy’s SuperTuscan estates Ornellaia and Masseto, he arrives this summer and will oversee the 2023 harvest.

Understanding the terroir

McCoy and Lawrence have been strategising since last year. The vineyard was the first focus, says McCoy.

In one day, the duo covered the estate’s 120 hectares (296 acres) in Margaux and 10 hectares (24 acres) in the Haut-Médoc appellation, walking and assessing each plot.

A map from the previous ownership showed which had received the most inputs of time and energy and the ones whose grapes always went into the grand vin.

‘But we’re taking a blank slate, farming everything with the same care, even in the Haut-Médoc,’ says McCoy. ‘We have to start by being great farmers. And if you’re not looking one metre down, it’s meaningless.’

Which is why one of the first steps was to enlist Bordeaux terroir whisperer Xavier Choné to analyse the vineyards.

It’s a complicated task, because this very large estate includes just about every soil type in the Margaux appellation. The goal is to earmark certain blocks that weren’t performing well to try and understand why.

Where to replant and experiments with different forms of trellising are on the list. There’s a cycle of learning with vines, and McCoy believes it takes a decade of working with a vineyard to understand it.

Among the challenges is understanding the climate, which is very different from California.

McCoy brings knowledge of dealing with drought and wildfires, but Bordeaux doesn’t have Napa’s shift between cool nights and hot days. Luckily, Heinz grew up in Bordeaux, studied at the University of Bordeaux, and worked at various properties there early in his career.

Future style

The future wine style will include more Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, and maybe a slightly less voluptuous profile.

‘We’re not Right Bank people,’ McCoy hastens to tell me. ‘We want less Merlot. We like structure and freshness. Soft wines don’t age. When you’re blending, you need to build a frame like a house.’

Structure, he believes, is what people look for in a Bordeaux grand vin. One plan is to plant more Cabernet on clay.

At this year’s en primeur tastings, the Château Lascombes 2022 blend showed a big shift with 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, compared to 55% in 2020 and 2021. The remainder comprises 30% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot to round out the blend.

Too much of the latter, McCoy says, ‘risks rusticity in the wine’. The 2022 isn’t a finished wine yet, though, and they might change the blend further.

Expect less new oak influence. Neither McCoy nor Lawrence like a heavy oak taste, and the 2022 is slated to use only 60% new oak. In the past, some vintages saw 100% new oak, though in recent years it was reduced to about 70%. The new owners plan experiments with larger wooden foudres, too.

Another factor that bodes well for the future is that Lawrence Wine Estates is family-owned.

Lascombes was in the hands of institutions for several decades. Sold by Alexis Lichine and a handful of US investors in the 1970s to British brewing company Bass-Charrington, it was then bought by US-based investment firm Colony Capital, which sold to MACSF, a French-based medical insurance company in 2011.

McCoy says they are dreaming bigger when it comes to quality, and the team reduced the amount of grand vin in 2022 by nearly half from its typical 30,000 cases.

In Napa, a winery’s single vineyard often defines the wine’s character. That’s not the case for Lascombes. Like other estates in Margaux, its plots of vines are dispersed over several communes.

‘We need to define Lascombes’ identity and terroir better,’ says McCoy, ‘with the goal of telling the story of Margaux.’

He calls 2022 ‘a great vintage’. The reception among critics to Lascombes’ barrel samples ranged wide, with some calling it overextracted and modern, others sumptuous, flamboyant, and velvety. I found the grand vin bold and powerful, with lush fruit, a silky texture, and definite oak but with more refinement and polish than in the past.

But McCoy isn’t worried. ‘I don’t care what the score is. I can’t be concerned about that. We’re thinking 10 years on after hyperfocus. The question is what kind of wine Lascombes will be in 20 years.’

For now, all eyes will be on the 2023 vintage with harvests across the region expected to start in the middle of September.

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