Lafleur 2022

Creamy blackberry, squid ink, cocoa bean, liquorice, crushed rose petals, intense, touch of soy, broth, clear salinity and grip. This is a well that you can fall into, could almost be io the Left Bank here because there is a sombre edge to it but as it opens, it shows its more joyful side, and this is a wonderful wine. As I said for the En Primeur sample, 'it provides a welcome sense of continuity in a vintage where the byword is excess'. 25% new oak for ageing, with the other 75% in barrels that were used at 9 months old after ageing the white wines. Harvest 7 and 17 September. Jean-Baptiste Guinaudeau owner and winemaker, along with an exceptionally invested team, harvest September 3 to 17.

51% Bouchet (Cabernet Franc), 49% Merlot. Cask sample.Very embryonic, even recalcitrant at the moment. Changes in the glass but all the components are there – gourmand fruit, plentiful but fine tannins, plush texture and better balance than Les Pensées. Firm, long, austere finish. As always will need time. (JL) 14.4%Drink 2032– 2050

A sublime wine from Lafleur in 2022 that delivers a vibrant, electric and incredibly charming wine with subtle power. A beautiful nose, inviting, generous and elegant, sweet and forward with hints of ripe fruit and roses. Sleek, sharp, direct and coursing with energy on the palate interweaving layers of dark fruits, tightly-knitted tannins, savoury spice and fresh minerality. Plum, damson, cherry, violets, floral and cool blue fruits, graphite and slate with a blood-iron tang. The edges have electricity and bite despite the clear concentration and power in-between. Long length that goes on and on. Perhaps less openly charming and generous than some at this point but this takes its time to open, carefully expanding and showing its potential. Wonderful.

A deep, gourmand vintage for this singular estate, the 2022 Lafleur unfurls in the glass with aromas of mulberries and cherries mingled with hints of rose petal, iris, orange zest and vine smoke. Full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it's pure and seamless, with supple tannins, huge depth at the core and a long, resonant finish. One of the most characterful as well as most consistent wines produced in contemporary Bordeaux, it will surely emerge as one of the vintage's high points.

The 2022 Lafleur was a deeply impressive Pomerol when tasted from barrel. As Baptiste Guinaudeau mentioned, the 2022 vintage was driven by energy and not dominated by the sun, which differentiates it from the 2019 or 2020. The 2022 possesses incredible purity on the nose, with layers of black fruit, graphite and just a hint of dark chocolate. The palate is medium-bodied and quite linear in style, with firm tannins, strong pencil box notes and a sharp and precise finish. It lingers temptingly in the mouth, yet at the same time you know this will need many years to reach its peak. Awesome. 2032 - 3075

The 2022 Lafleur was picked from 3 September with the early Merlot and then over the next two weeks. It underwent double sorting in the vineyard and then at reception, aged in 25% new oak. This is bestowed a compelling bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit, iodine and incense, beautifully defined, maybe more sensual than recent vintages. The palate is blessed with unerring symmetry, a fine thread of acidity, a graphite seam from start to finish and a constant sapidity. Extremely precise and ineffably persistent, this is an intellectual and delicious Lafleur - a lethal combination. Among the best that Baptiste and Julie Guinaudeau have conjured in recent years and that's a very impressive canon of work. 2032-2075

A structured Lafleur with tannins that spread across the palate that are polished and serious. Full and so beautiful. Shows complexity with white pepper, cloves, and rose stems. Velvety and thoughtful. 51% cabernet franc and 49% merlot.

Delivers the density and serious character of Lafleur, but while this is deep in colour it is not impenetrable, with more nuance than many, jewel ruby with vibrant reflections. Clear austerity to the tannins but this is a wine that always takes patience, and it provides a welcome sense of continuity in a vintage where the byword is excess. Confident, careful, precise, with red roses, peony, heather, slate, steel, graphite, incense, blueberry and raspberry fruit, and oyster shell salinity, layered and joyful, with cooling mint leaf on the finish. Jean-Baptiste Guinaudeau so often sets the conversation in a vintage, and he is doing so again here. Harvest September 3 to 17, 30% new oak. Potential 100.