£67,500 in bond per 6 magnum case
I am pleased to present an exceptionally rare case of DRC La Tache 2012 in Magnum OWC. The case was purchased on release from the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) and has been kept in one professional cellar, unmoved ever since. The case is in pristine condition, has never been opened and is still banded, and cases like this very rarely come to market. I am dealing directly with the client, and we are in the process of organizing his collection which he is looking to trim down. Hopefully, when we visit him at the end of September, there will be more gems that we will be able to offer as well. There are just three listings online for loose magnums between £11,000 and £13,900 in bond and this is £11,583 equivalent, meaning there is no premium attached for this rare format with great provenance.
2012 was exceptionally difficult growing season, with the vignerons battling everything mother nature can throw at them, including catastrophic hail, heatwaves, persistent rain, poor flowering and tiny berries, alongside mildew and oidium. DRC lost 20% of yields across all reds, but La Tache was down 40%. Interestingly, all these factors contribute to why La Tache can be so impressive. The tiny crop effectively created a natural green harvest, allowing the surviving berries to ripen extremely well. DRC itself explicitly said the crop loss from mildew and heatwaves was a factor favouring quality.
Allen Meadows tasted from bottle in 2023 (97 points) and described it as a “wine if finesse. In a word, brilliant”. It is clear from the critic reviews that this wine requires patience to achieve its best and has decades of life ahead. The scores are consistently high but conservative given the current restraint, but with a little patience, the potential for greatness is here.
