Now this is a wine. Having tasted one faulty sample elsewhere, this was true Lafleur. A very deep purple colour. The nose is very fresh, very minerally with incredible definition. Like VCC, it seems so natural. Blackberry, seaweed and redcurrants. Very focused on the palate with bewitching balance. Perfect acidity. Mulberry, blackberry and iron. Minerally. A wine that has greatness sewn into it from the beginning. Wine of the vintage? Retasted back at Lafleur the following primeur week. My wine of the vintage last year. This Lafleur has closed down over the last twelve months. Still that minerally nose, more broody and sulky this time. The palate is immensely concentrated, black fruits that touch of the sea. It looks as if this wine is “coiling” itself up, a long-term Lafleur that will need years. But the best things come to those who wait. Tasted April 2005.

Tasted at Justerini & Brooks agency tasting in London. I absolutely adored the Château Lafleur 2004 when I first tasted it from barrel. Now with a decade on the clock, it is beginning to truly fulfil its promise as one of the wines of that vintage. It has a deep garnet hue. The nose demonstrates a sense of energy married with outstanding delineation: blackberry, blueberry and freshly shaved black truffle. The palate is extremely focused and tense, the acidity perfectly judged, and though the growing season perhaps curtails the sustain on the finish, there is coolness and a nonchalance here that is captivating. There remains some adolescent broodiness here, but give it another 3-4 years and you will have a great Pomerol and a great Lafleur on your hands. Tasted February 2015.

by Neal Martin for WA