critic reviews
The 2020 La Gaffelière has a classically styled, tertiary, tobacco-scented bouquet that unfolds in a pleasing fashion. The palate is medium-bodied with lighter tannins than its peers, but it's still nicely balanced and pure. A caressing white pepper- and clove-tinged finish lingers in the mouth. It's very fine, but as I previously noted, this is quite a backward Saint-Émilion, which explains the plus sign and my lower mark than before. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
The 2020 La Gaffeliere is composed of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color, it soars out of the glass with expressive notes of redcurrant jelly, plum preserves, and kirsch, plus nuances of dark chocolate, violets, pencil lead, and fragrant soil with a waft of crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate is so tightly wound, featuring very fine layers of red and black fruit intertwined with floral and mineral nuances, supported by highly pixilated, super-ripe tannins and amazing tension, finishing very long and with the energy of an atomic bomb. This is stunning!
A worthy follow up to the excellent 2019, the 2020 La Gaffeliere bursts with aromas of plums, sweet berries, licorice, mint and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and concentrated, with lively acids and vibrant fruit flavors, it's built around powdery, fine-grained tannins. Cabernet Franc represents fully 40% of the blend. As I wrote last year, this estate, in many respects Saint-Emilion's sleeping giant, is awakening.
Limestone dominance from the first moment, with saffron and oyster shell along with juicy and well-controlled blueberry and raspberry fruit, and white pepper spice. Cabernet Franc dominant in the aromatics of savoury tomato leaf, peony and heather, this is sleek, silky and excelllent quality. First vintage without the Grand Cru Classé on the label, as it withdrew from the ranking, and a clear loss to the classification. 42hl/ha yield.