Château Lafleur

Château Lafleur, Pomerol, 2017

Name: Château Lafleur, Pomerol
Brand: Château Lafleur
Price: 2783.53 GBP

98/100

The Wine Independent

97/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

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Last Few
2017
3x75cl
DP
£2,783.53

Broking

2017
3x75cl
DP
£2,069.53
2017
3x75cl
DP
£2,171.53

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Last year Lafleur was our clear wine of the vintage. The 2017 is not quite so clear cut, but it is without doubt another immense effort from the Guinaudeau team. At the time of the primeur tastings, the Pensees was more expressive and at first impressions more impressive, but with coaxing and reflection this reveals its class. Produced from 53% Cabernet Franc and 47% Merlot this is a much more introspective, reserved style. The aromatic profile is regal with pure loganberry, raspberry and detailed açaí and alpine strawberry. The palate is equally refined with delightful boysenberry and seductive crème de cassis interspersed with notes of sandalwood, spice and Morello cherry. It is a sensational wine, but whereas the 2016 was kaleidoscopic at this stage, this is reticent and quite discrete. Texturally it's complete with layers of impressive fruit, stony minerals, fine boned tannins coated in luxurious fruit. This has real precision and poise; we fully expect this muscular Lafleur to develop into something truly special.

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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

98/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

Lafleur 2017 is a blend of 51% Merlot and 49% Cabernet Franc and has a medium to deep garnet-purple color. It is very closed to begin with, slowly unfurling to reveal the most gorgeous floral notes of roses, lavender, star anise, and charcuterie with a waft of crushed rocks. The full-bodied palate knocks your socks off with the most beautiful, slow-releasing layers in the mouth, framed by super-plush tannins and just enough freshness, finishing with incredible length and spiciness.

drinking window 2024 - 2047

date of review 12/2022

97/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2017 Lafleur is very deep, almost opaque in colour. This has a very intense bouquet that clearly shrugs of any risk of frost to produce copious black fruit laced with white pepper, clove, truffle and crushed stone. It actually seems to close in a little with aeration instead of opening up. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, very fresh and certainly very mineral-driven. A pixelated but "serious" finish suggests as usual, this is a long-term Pomerol. Baptiste Guinaudeau has overseen one of the wines of the vintage.

drinking window 2026 - 2060

date of review 02/2020

product details

Specifications

Country:

Region:

Appellation:

Producer:

style:

Grape Variety:

Merlot Cabernet Franc

abv:

13%

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.