Château Lafleur 2017

The 2017 blend is 53% Cabernet Franc and 47% Merlot. Red and black cherries, plums, currants, black raspberries, and mulberries rise from the glass with roses, cinnamon, forest floor, truffle, and a savoury mineral edge. Merlot supplies breadth and dark-fruited richness, while the unusually high proportion of Cabernet Franc gives the wine its freshness, floral lift, and galvanising line. The palate is medium to full-bodied and densely layered, but the sensation is not one of heaviness. Firm, exceptionally fine tannins create a precise framework, and lively acidity drives the fruit and earthy complexity into a persistent, saline finish. The wine is tightly coiled in youth, with blackberry, dark chocolate, violet, white pepper, sage, and ferrous nuances appearing as it opens. Its concentration demands patience, yet every element is integrated into Lafleur's distinctive combination of strength, refinement, and seemingly weightless authority.

Its strength is never merely volume; the pleasure lies in the wine’s ability to feel deep, lifted, and finely drawn at once.

Serve at approximately 16–18°C and decant generously when young. Roast lamb, duck breast, beef tenderloin, or venison with a clean jus will respect its precision. Earthy ingredients—porcini, truffle, black lentils, beetroot, and celeriac—echo its forest-floor and mineral notes, while rosemary, sage, and thyme can draw out Cabernet Franc's aromatic freshness. Choose mature Comté or aged Gouda for cheese. Avoid sugary reductions and fiery spice. Pour into large Bordeaux glasses and follow the bottle slowly; the contrast between Merlot richness and Cabernet Franc tension becomes more articulate with air.

A simple plate of aged Comté or firm sheep’s cheese also lets its perfume and mineral tension remain at the centre of the experience.

The Guinaudeau family tends Lafleur as an intimate Pomerol estate, working a mosaic of sandy-clay gravel, clay gravel, and gravelly sand. Its small scale permits exacting attention, while old Cabernet Franc selections—known within the family as Bouchet—contribute a character found nowhere else in quite the same form. In 2017, Merlot was harvested before the rain, while the team waited until the end of September for Cabernet Franc to achieve ripeness with greater freshness. That patience shaped one of the Right Bank's defining wines of the vintage: concentrated and muscular, yet floral, saline, and precise.

Its rarity is inseparable from that scale: every decision is concentrated within an exceptionally intimate piece of Pomerol.

Store unopened on its side in a cool, dark, temperature-stable cellar. Keep away from heat, sunlight, vibration, and sudden temperature changes. Serve around 16–18°C and decant well in advance while young. Contains sulphites.