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Lafleur 2015

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > Pomerol
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyMerlot/Cabernet Franc

View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Lafleur

Label

Tasting Notes

Lafleur 2015 is a blend of 51% Merlot and 49% Cabernet Franc and has a medium to deep garnet color. It shoots from the glass with opulent scents of baked blackberries, warm plums, and tar with nuances of violets, licorice, dark chocolate, and crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is built like a brick house, featuring firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing on a lingering fragrant earth note.

100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent, November 2022

The 2015 Lafleur has a broody but intense bouquet with exquisite definition and top quality Cabernet Franc showing through. This just has to be Lafleur! The palate is extremely well balanced with gentle grip, almost powdery in texture and demonstrating enormous depth and persistence on the finish. It is nowhere near ready but it will be a wonderful Pomerol. There is a sense of audacity here that is compelling. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.

98
Neal Martin, vinous.com, July 2019

Very deep and dark fruits on the nose with black mushrooms and wet earth and just a hint of stones. Touch of rust. Full-bodied, tight and focused. Lots of tannins yet this is so polished under the surface of the wine. Draws you in and holds you with its unique personality. Some tile and clay character to it. Makes you think. Try in 2025.

100
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, February 2018

Tasted by Jane Anson(at Château Gazin, 01 Dec 2017)
Part of Bordeaux Right Bank 2015 in bottle: Top scorers

The difference between Les Pensées and Lafleur itself is almost invariably in the intensity, texture and weight in the mouth. The extraction time for Lafleur is no more than for its little brother, and both have just 20% new oak in this vintage, one of the lowest percentages at this quality level across the whole of Bordeaux, I would like to bet. And yet the ripeness and density of the fruit is full of impact, showcasing tannins that are fine but structured, with an explosion of black fruits and fresh mint leaf on the mid-palate, layered with graphite, slate, cigar box, and black pepper spice. It's going to last and last. Drinking window 2023 - 2040.

100
Jane Anson, Decanter.com, January 2018

Tasted blind. Juicy and opulent but not too sweet. So reverberant! It’s all on the finish, which is a tad drying but it’s a good wine.
Drink 2025-2040

17
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, February 2019

One of Bordeaux's biggest name "cult wine". Tiny production levels and a long pedigree of great quality ensure that collectors fight for an allocation every year despite the high prices. Deep ruby colour with a nose of milk chocolate, dried violets, black plum, and black cherry. Complex and layered with a cool sweetness. The palate is very silky and refined with ripe, cocoa powder tannins and blueberry fruit. Refined and mineral despite the intensity of ripe fruit. The initially lightly layered fruit builds to incredible intensity and complexity on the finish in a real peacocks tail of spicy, sweet and floral characters. Supple, long, superb.

96
Farr Vintners, March 2016

The nose has a mix of black fruits fragrant woodland violets the palate is sweet with ripe black plum velvety and smooth the richness tempered by underlying bilberry freshness. Power and richness at the back supple and ripe yet the back palate is lighter bright seamless and elegant. 2026-40

96/99
Derek Smedley MW, DerekSmedleyMW.co.uk, April 2016

In a year when too many châteaux seemed to be trying too hard to make great wines, this is the real deal, a subtle, complex, finely judged Pomerol from an exceptional terroir, made with Burgundian love of the land. Racy and sweet, balanced, silky and aromatic, with red berry fruit wound around a mineral core. One of my top two wines of the vintage. Drink: 2025-40

99
Tim Atkin MW, timatkin.com, April 2016

The richness and sexiness of the fruit here is extraordinary and it is packed with juiciness and power while maintaining its red theme. The oak is also full volume but this has been sucked up by the fruit with ease. Very tense and youthful this is a wine which needs a decade minimum to relax and with the calibre of tannins and punch of acidity this is possibly a fifty-year wine.

18.5+
Matthew Jukes, Matthew Jukes' Blog, April 2016
Read more tasting notes...

The 2015 Lafleur is a blend of 54% Cabernet Franc and 46% Merlot. Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, it's profoundly scented of plum preserves, chocolate-covered cherries and blueberry pie with nuances of black olives, lavender, unsmoked cigars and cast iron pan plus a touch of Indian spices. The rich, medium to full-bodied palate is completely packed with tightly wound fragrant earth, black fruit and exotic spice layers, supported by perfectly ripe, wonderfully velvety tannins and seamless freshness. The epically long finish delivers a sum that is greater than the many compelling characters imparted on the nose and palate, whispering promises of a whole myriad of provocative finishes to discover throughout this wine's very long future. This exquisite masterpiece is not to be missed. Drink 2024 - 2054.

100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (236), April 2018

The 2015 Lafleur has a quite brilliant bouquet, supremely well defined with extraordinarily pure blackberry, cranberry, cold stone and light floral (rose petal) aromas that are beautifully defined. It is only with aeration that it develops that marine tincture that I picked up on out of barrel. The palate is medium-bodied with an intense opening: layers of blackberry, raspberry coulis, bay leaf and hints of black truffle. This is a multidimensional Lafleur with an arching structure and yet manages to maintain stunning focus and precision on the finish. This is going to be one of the great Lafleur wines to rank alongside the likes of the 1982 and 2000. Heavenly. Anticipated maturity: 2025 - 2055.

99
Neal Martin, March 2018

The 2015 Lafleur is a blend of 51% Merlot and 49% Cabernet Franc picked 11-15 September and 1-2 October respectively. As usual, I waited for the Grand Vin to open in the glass, so I chewed the fat with Baptiste Guinaudeau before I started to tap away at the laptop. It unfurls beautifully delivering small red cherries, cranberry and Japanese nori aromas that gain intensity with every swirl. The palate is medium-bodied with full and rounded tannin, very complex with layers of cranberry and raspberry fruit, veins of white pepper and bay leaf, structured on the finish but not as foreboding as the leviathan 2010 Lafleur. It will still require ten years in bottle to reach its plateau, but it will be one of the standout wines of the vintage. Drink 2028-2060.

97/99
Neal Martin, Wine Advocate (224), April 2016

It’s hard to describe perfection. It’s not just power and depth. It’s something mystical and ehtereal. The wine just floats on your palate with incredible density yet precise. Taste it and you want it forever. So creamy and textured. Glorious.

100
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, March 2016

Much darker crimson than Pensées with more blue in the mix. Very rich and spicy on the nose. Masses of sweetness upfront but also great refinement and freshness. Sinewy and really very glorious. Gorgeous elixir. Lots of layers and different nuances.
Drink 2025-2050

18.5
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2016
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.