2001 Château Lafleur
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The 2001 Lafleur was a significant vintage in that it marked the entrance of Baptiste and Julie Guinaudeau, albeit on a part-time basis. I have always adored this vintage that lies in the shadow of the millennial vintage, although it is cut from a completely different cloth. This has an exquisite bouquet with expressive, vivid scents of black plum, bay leaf and pressed violets, the Merlot heightened over the Cabernet Franc with bottle age. The palate is medium-bodied with vivacious blackberry and raspberry fruit, energetic and tensile with wonderful precision, less glossy than its bottle counterparts. Now just entering its drinking window, this is a very seductive and life-affirming Lafleur that will be difficult to resist. Tasted from ex-château magnum at Kate & Kon's 40-Year vertical in Austria.
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The 2001 Lafleur is one of the few wines that must lie in the shadow of the 2000. Yet this is no slouch. It is quite pungent on the nose with red berry, black plum, mint and ferrous scents, much more youthful than you would expect from a 23-year-old Right Bank. The palate offers fresh and vivid black fruit and supple tannins. The 2001 is glossy in juxtaposition with the 1985, showing a little headiness toward the finish, but time will temper that. This is a superb showing, but it needs more bottle age. Tasted at the Pomerol dinner at Cornus restaurant in London.
The 2001 Lafleur was tasted directly from bottle with Baptiste Guinaudeau. Opens gradually on the nose with brambly red fruit, black truffle, mint and touches of iron and sage. The palate is medium-bodied with firm, grippy tannins; it's very ferrous in style, and the Cabernet Franc is in the driving seat. A little savoury towards the finish, with residues of black pepper and white pepper towards the finish.
The 2001 Lafleur is a Pomerol that I had tasted just a couple of months earlier. This bottle feels a little riper and more plummy on the nose by contrast, and perhaps it required more decanting, as the palate here is ferociously backward. But the breeding is all here – it just needs time.
About the producer
The Société Civile du Ch. Lafleur is the collective name for the Guinaudeau family’s wines and estates. These are some of the Right Bank’s most famous wines, including Ch. Lafleur and Les Pensées in Pomerol, along with Les Perrières, Les Champs Libres and Ch. Grand Village in Fronsac.