Château Lafleur, Pomerol, 2022

Name: Château Lafleur, Pomerol
Brand: Château Lafleur
Price: 7220.74 GBP

Available Vintages

all 1999 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

justerini & brooks tasting note

From the very first waft from the glass, Lafleur 2022 demands and commands your attention. This is by far the most reserved and backward wine in the Guinaudeau range yet it is also clearly a great Lafleur with all the signs of brilliance to come. The complex, spicy, thought-provoking bouquet offers elemental notes, as well as touches of herb and earth. Coiled and introverted at first, with continued aeration, lifting floral notes emerge. One can’t help but sense the raw potential here - there's so much more to come. Powerful and hugely concentrated on the palate, there's nevertheless great refinement to the fruit – it’s deep and cerebral, immense even, yet vital and brimming with life. As one would expect from Lafleur, this is a vertical wine with tremendous length thanks to its epic tannins, which envelope the elements of the palate whilst amplifying the flavours and providing a seamless continuity from start to finish. There have been so many memorable Lafleurs over the last decade that it's difficult to pick a favourite. Suffice to say this is right up there with the best of the best. A superb wine; a Lafleur for the ages.

critic reviews

98+/100Neal Martin,Vinous

The 2022 Lafleur is a deeply impressive wine that is obviously in its primal stage. Very pure on the multi-faceted nose with layers of black fruit, graphite and truffle oil, it turns on its heel after 20 minutes to deliver more floral and violet scents. The palate is very harmonious with gentle grip but you can sure feel its weight in the mouth. The 2022 has a sense of completeness that will serve it well for long-term ageing. Outstanding. Tasted from ex-château magnum at Kate & Kon's 40-Year vertical in Austria.

DRINKING WINDOW 2034 - 2080

date of review 09/2025

97/100Chris Kissack,The Wine Independent

The blend is 49% Merlot and 51% Cabernet Franc, and the élevage was in 30% new oak, and 70% second-fill oak previously used at Grand Village. A real sense of harmony here on the nose, with desiccated raspberry, currants, bramble and blackcurrant fruits, with pencil shavings and violets, the Cabernet character very clearly expressed here. That same feelings of harmony on the start of the palate, supple and tightly integrated, with a silky upper layer of fruits, over tightly knit, firm and lightly powdery tannins. Very stylish, with finely integrated texture and modestly finessed tannins which together lead to a long, warm, confident and peppery finish. The alcohol is 14.5% on the label, the lowest among all the Guinaudeau reds, although it is probably slightly higher on analysis.

DRINKING WINDOW 2030 - 2065

date of review 06/2025

99/100Jane Anson,Inside Bordeaux

Creamy blackberry, squid ink, cocoa bean, liquorice, crushed rose petals, intense, touch of soy, broth, clear salinity and grip. This is a well that you can fall into, could almost be io the Left Bank here because there is a sombre edge to it but as it opens, it shows its more joyful side, and this is a wonderful wine. As I said for the En Primeur sample, 'it provides a welcome sense of continuity in a vintage where the byword is excess'. 25% new oak for ageing, with the other 75% in barrels that were used at 9 months old after ageing the white wines. Harvest 7 and 17 September. Jean-Baptiste Guinaudeau owner and winemaker, along with an exceptionally invested team, harvest September 3 to 17.

DRINKING WINDOW 2030 - 2050

date of review 03/2025

97-99/100William Kelley,Robert Parker Wine Advocate

A deep, gourmand vintage for this singular estate, the 2022 Lafleur unfurls in the glass with aromas of mulberries and cherries mingled with hints of rose petal, iris, orange zest and vine smoke. Full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it's pure and seamless, with supple tannins, huge depth at the core and a long, resonant finish. One of the most characterful as well as most consistent wines produced in contemporary Bordeaux, it will surely emerge as one of the vintage's high points.

date of review 04/2023