Château Lafleur

Château Lafleur, Pomerol, 2005

Name: Château Lafleur, Pomerol
Brand: Château Lafleur
Price: 10821.53 GBP

100/100

The Wine Independent

97+/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

delivery

in bond

Broking

2005
6x75cl
DP
£10,821.53

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

This is the first time we have tasted at Château Lafleur and we are grateful to Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau for their last minute hospitality. The name Lafleur carries with it almost magical connotations and we can see why: the house is simple and quaint, and the wine pure and, in a sense, simple, insofar as it is an honest and uncomplicated reflection of an exceptional terroir. On the nose to begin with, it is as humble as the château itself, delicate and floral, but it builds in confidence and expands gently on the palate to remarkable, mouth-filling proportions, all softness and balance, with pure fruit and a long, gentle finish. Quite an experience.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

100/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

The 2005 Lafleur is a blend of 67% Merlot and 33% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-brick in color, it is youthful and wonderfully fragrant on the nose, with a good swirling awakening notions of roses and lilacs, fallen leaves, and tilled soil, leading to a profound core of kirsch, blueberry pie, and plum preserves. Full-bodied, tightly knit, muscular, and with impressive freshness, it has a firm and grainy texture, finishing long and fragrant. Enjoying this wine now will certainly not disappoint, but there is certainly a lot more to emerge over the next 10-20 years with patient cellaring. Drink it to 2060+. It has been partly owned by the Guinaudeau family since the mid-1980s and fully since 2002. Located on the Pomerol plateau, next to Petrus and La Fleur Petrus, the vineyard only covers about 11 acres, but with quite complex soils of gravel, sand and clay, planted to 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot.

drinking window 2022 - 2060

date of review 07/2022

97+/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2005 Lafleur does not quite match up to previous examples and certainly juxtaposed against the 2000 Lafleur, I have a preference for the millennial. Still, I am quibbling. It has a tightly-wound bouquet at first with blackberry, wild strawberry, black truffle and minerals that only reluctantly unfolds over the course of two or three hours. I cannot recall the nose on the 2005 being so obdurate! The palate is medium-bodied, the tannins not quite as fine as the 2000, and grainy in texture. The Cabernet Franc is more expressive towards the finish, imparting notes of dried blood and cured meat. This remains a great Pomerol although I do not find it ageing with the same level of grace as the 2000. Tasted at the Christies’ Lafleur masterclass in London.

drinking window 2025 - 2060

date of review 11/2018

product details

Specifications

Country:

Region:

Appellation:

Producer:

style:

Grape Variety:

Merlot Cabernet Franc

abv:

13.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.