Lafleur 1979

The 1979 Lafleur was more Cab Franc-y and more jammy in the nose, but its palate was very slaty with a dry, dry finish.  Boysenberry jam emerged with some time, and the wine continued to show off its long finish (96).

A beautiful Lafleur just starting its decline. Lifted, fresh flavors of dried rose petals, mixed herbs and sweet spices. Delicate, a little bit fragile but so pure and expressive. Enjoy now.

A few more words about Lafleur are merited: 4.5 ha, 50% Merlot, 50% Cab Franc roughly. The high degree of Cab Franc, unusual for Bordeaux, gives Lafleur kinship in terms of its taste profile with Cheval Blanc (with close to 65% Cab Franc) and to a lesser extent, Vieux Chateau Certan (about 30%).

The terroir is not as uniform as the iron-rich blue clay of Petrus. It is split between sandy-clay gravel (producing berries that are small and exceptionally concentrated), clay (excellent for Cab Franc) and gravelly sand (naturally balanced for Merlot).

When the first of the Robin sisters who had owned and operated the estate since the 40’s passed away, management passed for some time to Christian Moueix and Jean-Claude Berrouet who made the ’82, ’83 and ’84 Lafleur. The new ownership is the Guinaudeau family who first leased the vineyard around that time and purchased it in 2001.

Overall traits of the wine are spiciness, great concentration, youthful tannins, and the dance between the Merlot sweetness and the Cab Franc composure and character. The concentration here though comes from the vineyard, not Parkerized manipulation (late-picking, over-extracting, etc). It is an intrinsic power being experienced.

It is not an easy wine to be besotted by, you have to ply patiently to experience and come to embrace its natural power, depth, and exotic complexity.

The 1979 caught virtually all of us by positive surprise, it was utterly thrilling, vintage transcending in many ways. Chocolate and orange rind on the nose, some spices and tea. There is such balanced grace throughout, thick yet silky in texture, composed yet concentrated fruit, beautifully singing yet somehow understated acidity, with a glorious fruit laced polish on the finish. There is just effortless panache here, and unexpectedly, this is one of the wines I will most remember from the evening. 97 Points