2019 La Gaffeliere
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Tasting notes
Focused florality, mixed with defined small berry fruit aromas and some savoury, earthy minerality – lovely nose. The fruit is ripe, generous – ripe plum, black cherry with quite open-knit tannin structure. This is juicy, balanced with good mineral backbone. Tannins are gentle and integrated and not over ambitious producing an elegant St Emilion with light structure adding length and breadth on the palate.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Decanter
More reviews and scores
The finest wine I've tasted from this estate, the 2019 Château La Gaffelière is pure Saint-Emilion brilliance and offers a complex, intense bouquet of red and black fruits, iron, truffly earth, tobacco, and bouquet garni. This carries to a medium to full-bodied, pure, layered, elegant, yet concentrated 2019 with perfect tannins, plenty of mid-palate depth, and a gorgeous finish. It shows the perfumed, elegant, already accessible style of this great vintage (and I thoroughly enjoyed this bottle), but it's going to evolve gracefully over the coming 30 years or more. Bravo!
The 2019 La Gaffelière is well-defined on the nose, though it does not have the complexity of the Petit Cheval and La Dominique tasted alongside. Yet with aeration, its mineralité does become more tangible. The palate is medium-bodied with a sappy entry, plenty of vibrant red fruit, orange rind and spice touches, just a little dustiness developing on the finish. Given the stellar showing in previous bottles, I shall not score based on this showing. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Tasted blind. Very bright crimson. Bone dry and a bit tart. Very pinched. Not interesting enough to carry this strategy. (JR)
About the producer
Bordering both Ausone and Pavie, this property has been owned by the De Malet Roquefort line for over 300 years – making them the oldest winegrowing family in Saint-Emilion.