Château Lafleur, Pomerol, 2023
Omri explained 2023 is "not a solaire vintage, it’s not a “classical” cool vintage, it’s not another hybrid vintage like 2016, 2018 or 2020 with a wet, cold spring and then a very hot, dry summer… The best we’ve come up with so far is it’s an extreme vintage with no real extremes… It felt extreme when we were working in the vineyard, it was challenging and complex, but when we look back at the data, it was quite unremarkable.” The wines they have produced certainly are remarkable and very much appeal to our palates. They are dense, but less overly fruity than recent greats like 2019 and 2022. They have wonderful aromatics and bright, tense cores of fruit framed by gloriously ripe tannins packed with detail. It's a masterful range, which sits right up there with the very best from these estates. After the demonstrative Pensées, this is a more reserved proposition. Following some aeration, gorgeous notes of cigar tobacco, violets and gravelly cassis emerge. Complex and demure, inviting and mysterious. The palate is so sophisticated, such refinement and such purity – the complexity here is achieved without any edges and angles, just sheer detail and finesse. A multifaceted, cerebral beauty. Just sensational. 56% Bouchet and 46% Merlot.
critic reviews
The 2023 Lafleur is just as compelling in bottle as it was in cask. Deep, complex and resonant, it unwinds in the glass to reveal notes of cherries, raspberry liqueur, iris, violets and mint. Full-bodied, supple and velvety, with a suave attack that segues into an enveloping, vibrant, mouth-filling mid-palate, it exhibits breathtaking purity and harmony.
Iris and violet flowers greet you on the opening beats, and it's a little more open at this early stage than is sometimes the case with this most profound of wines. Crushed red roses, squid ink, salinity, just pure finesse with blueberry and cassis fruits that hug the palate. As it inches open creamy cocoa bean and dark chocolate appear, with an expansive floral aspect and pumice-scraping tannins, vibrant and humming. The team here always knows how to skilfully construct a wine, and there are, as ever, hidden depths. Needs a good 8 to 10 years before reaching its peak. 25% new oak for ageing, unusually generous yields, around 40hl/h.
The 2023 Lafleur has exquisite delineation on the nose, very precise with blackberry and bilberry fruit undergirded by tangible crushed limestone scents. A kind of "cool" aromatics profile, no need to showboat at all. The palate is medium-bodied, is supremely well-balanced with gentle but insistent grip. There is a bewitching symmetry in this Lafleur, a dash of black pepper toward the finish that lingers very long in the mouth, one of the longest that you will find in the vintage. Outstanding.
A blend of 54% Bouchet (Cabernet Franc) and 46% Merlot, the 2023 Lafleur has a deep garnet-purple color. It slowly unfurls with very pure scents of wild blueberries and violets, opening out to notes of boysenberry preserves, licorice, rose bud tea, sassafras, and fragrant earth. The medium to full-bodied palate is deceptively ethereal, yet amazingly dense, with super-fine, pixilated tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long and fragrant. Wow!