Small Run Limited Production

wines

I am almost always in awe of Lafleur and this is one of the best. This is so subtle at first, but then the enchanting aromas of olive leaves, ivy, licorice, tar and treacle wash over you. In your mouth it’s as if you’re putting exquisite, dusty velvet inside; the tannins make this wine round, fat and encompassing. Perhaps most startling of all is the freshness retained over the years despite the intense, dense fruit. It allows not only for a chewy finish, but one that makes you want to drink more. This has reached a plateau now and is perfect for drinking, though its tightly-knit structure implies yet more potential cellaring. I’ve always been a believer in the 1989 vintage, and Lafleur is one of the best. Decant two hours in advance.James Suckling | 99 JSReally decadent and powerful, delivering dried fruit and grilled meat. Very Porty, featuring red licorice and prune on the nose. Velvety and rich, with a full palate and amazing fruit of aniseed and black licorice. It goes on and on. What freshness and beauty. Delicate fruit, chocolate and berries. This is just opening up now.—’89/’99 Bordeaux blind retrospective (2009). Drink now. —Wine Spectator | 98 WSTasted at the Pomerol Comparative Exploration tasting in London, the 1989 Lafleur was perhaps the real surprise of a memorable evening of wine. What comes across on the nose is the detail, the precision with pure black fruit, crushed minerals, subtle floral scents and a palpable sense of energy. It evolves in the glass, later revealing smoke, Italian cured meats and a touch of bay leaf. The palate is simply crystalline with pitch perfect acidity, astonishing precision and laser-like focus that takes your breath away. I have never encountered a 1989 Lafleur with this detail and clarity, a wine that seems to improve every time I encounter it, which is regrettably once in a blue moon. Whilst I do not think the 1989 will surpass the 1982 Lafleur, my God, it is coming damn close.Vinous Media | 97 VMThe 1989 Lafleur, tasted side by side with the 1990 on two occasions in 2002, plays it closer to the vest. The wine needs far more coaxing to produce the licorice, black cherry liqueur, earth, and truffle notes from the nose. In the mouth, the wine is full-bodied, tannic, backward, and very tightly knit, with mouth-searing levels of tannin and extremely high extract. The tannins are firmer, the fruit seemingly less sweet, but still extremely ripe, and the evolutionary process is far slower in the 1989 than the 1990. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2045. Last tasted, 8/02.Robert Parker | 95 RP

This is a crazy nose of tangerines and blueberries, with raspberries and mushroom and berries. Full-bodied, with ultra fine tannins. This wine is all about texture, with phenomenal tannins and subtle fruits that just make you think. Evocative. It is layered, yet changes all the time. I can’t believe it really. Speechless. Amazes me. Try in 2020.James Suckling | 100 JSAn absolutely prodigious blend of 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot, the 2009 Lafleur displays the tell-tale characteristics of this great estate. Kirsch liqueur, licorice and floral notes are intermixed with raspberry in a very full-bodied, super-intense, opulent and multi-dimensional style. Extraordinarily dense and pure, but not heavy by any means, the intensity, texture, and richness of the 2009 Lafleur are reminiscent of the perfect 1982. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2040.Robert Parker | 99 RPThe 2009 Lafleur (55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot) is an incredible wine in the vintage, not due to its concentration or richness, but due to its purity, finesse, and elegance! Revealing a deep ruby/purple color and perfumed notes of black raspberries, violets, forest floor, and spring flowers, this seamless Pomerol hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a layered, multi-dimensional, weightless texture, and ultra-fine tannin. With perfectly integrated oak, a perfumed, complex style, and no hard edges, it’s as sexy and seamless as it gets. If this wine doesn’t put a smile on your face, I can’t imagine what would. It’s already impossible to resist (it blossoms with time in the glass) but I suspect it will cruise in the cellar for another 2-3 decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDThe 2009 Lafleur is intense on the nose with darker fruit than the 2009 Ausone: freshly tilled earth, touches of pressed rose petals and a subtle ferrous scent, involving and quite mercurial. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannin, velvety smooth and a cashmere texture. A mixture of blue and black fruit laced with spice leads to a very composed but powerful finish that lingers for 60+ seconds. This is only just beginning to show what it can do. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 97+ VMThis gushes with mouthwatering blueberry, boysenberry and blackberry fruit, leading to a long black tea– and incense-filled finish. Darkens up considerably as it airs, with layers of extra flesh, Kenya AA coffee and charcoal notes striding through the finish. Shows an exotic side, and gorgeous mouthfeel. Best from 2015 through 2030. 950 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WS

Love the floral character to the aromas of dark fruit, such as blueberries and black cherries. Red and black licorice, too. The full-bodied palate starts slowly and then expands with super polished, searing tannins that lead you up the palate into a place of grandeur. Lightly chewy at the end. Such great purity and presence here. 6% cabernet sauvignon in the blend with franc and merlot. Try after 2028.James Suckling | 99 JSThe 2018 Cheval Blanc is a blend of 54% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, with a 3.75 pH and 14.5% alcohol. Deep garnet-purple colored, it needs considerable swirling and air to releases fragrant notes of stewed plums, juicy black cherries and ripe blackberries with underlying suggestions of damp soil, black truffles, rose oil and cardamom with wafts of underbrush and iron ore. The medium to full-bodied palate is densely packed with rich black fruits and loads of earthy accents, framed by super firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness to balance, finishing with amazing length and a beautiful array of floral and mineral sparks. Thirty-three plots contributed to this wine, out of the forty-three in production. Of the rest, five went into Petit Cheval and five into bulk. It will need a good 6-7 years at least to really start to strut its stuff and should cellar for a further 30 years or more.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98+ RPThe 2018 Cheval Blanc is magnificent. In a vintage in which so many wines are opulent and dense, Cheval Blanc maintains striking translucence while conveying the natural radiance of the year. Silky, perfumed and exceptionally vivid, the 2018 pulses with energy from start to finish. Sage, mint, lavender and mocha all meld together on the sumptuous finish. Cabernet Franc, such a Cheval signature, has probably never been so ripe. In a word: dazzling.Antonio Galloni | 98+ AGShowing beautifully from barrel and now from bottle, the 2018 Château Cheval Blanc is a final blend of 54% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a pure, classic Cheval Blanc in that it relies more on complexity and elegance than power, offering a beautiful perfume of red and blackcurrants, spring flowers, spice, forest floor, incense, and tobacco. This carries to a medium to full-bodied Cheval Blanc offering wonderful purity of fruit, a seamless, layered texture, incredible tannins, and a lengthy, focused finish. It shows less of the sunny style of the vintage now than it did from barrel, and it’s a wonderfully complete wine that delivers awesome freshness in its aromatics, plenty of ripe, sweet fruit, and the tannins and structure that seem to come from a long, cooler season. Reminding me slightly of the 2016, with a touch of the 2001, give this gorgeous wine 5-7 years of bottle age, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following 2-3 decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDThe first thing that strikes about this wine is its massive density. The second is the richness of the structured Cabernet Franc that is such an important element in the blend. Weight is balanced by the intense fruits and amazing freshness of a wine that has such concentration. This wine will age for years. Don’t touch it before 2027.Wine Enthusiast | 98 WEThis has the vintage’s profile, with a sleek and slightly austere frame holding a core of cassis, bitter cherry and raspberry coulis notes tightly together while flashes of bay, dried anise and savory add range and detail. Has a late tug of warm earth along with a very perfumy echo through the finish. A beauty. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2024 through 2038. 10,208 cases made.Wine Spectator | 97 WSLovely ripeness on the nose, full of dense Morello cherries and milk chocolate notes, this feels round and just very complete. It has a density on the palate immediately, voluminous with chalky, gentle gripping tannins, almost chewy on the second taste, that fill the mouth. Generous and expansive. Voluptuous fruit with a capitvating and satisfying texture, it’s really the mouthfeel that’s in focus, big and wide - coating the mouth. Flavours are concentrated around blackcurrant and black cherry with some sweet strawberry and soft chalkiness as well as a touch of sweet liquorice too. Clear depth and power though still youthful and somewhat shy. An excellent Cheval. (Drink between 2028-2055)Decanter | 96 DEC