The 2020 La Gaffelière is superb. Rich, dense and explosive. Black cherry, gravel, licorice, grilled herbs and menthol race out of the glass. Deep, pliant and explosive, the 2020 is magnificent. At this stage, the 2020 is an infant, but that won't be a problem in a few years. This vivid, statuesque Saint-Émilion is nothing short of thrilling.

Deep and intense notes of plums and blackberries with dark chocolate, toasted spices, walnut, crushed graphite and wet stones. Full-bodied with layers of ripe, velvety tannins that flow in a firm stream throughout the palate. Very structured. Delicious chocolate-wrapped black and blue fruit with spiced character and a really long finish. 60% merlot and 40% cabernet franc. Drink from 2028.

A worthy follow up to the excellent 2019, the 2020 La Gaffelière bursts with aromas of plums, sweet berries, licorice, mint and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and concentrated, with lively acids and vibrant fruit flavors, it's built around powdery, fine-grained tannins. Cabernet Franc represents fully 40% of the blend. As I wrote last year, this estate, in many respects Saint-Émilion's sleeping giant, is awakening. WK April 2023

The 2020 La Gaffelière was a knockout out of barrel and so expectations were high broaching the wine in bottle. It delivers a sumptuous yet beautifully-defined bouquet with pure black cherry and red plum aromas, an underlying mineralité that keeps it on its toes. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, quite saline, perhaps still a little closed post-bottling but with plenty of tension running from start to finish. It's a Saint-Émilion that says bugger off and come back (a lot) later.

In contention as one of the top vintages produced here, the wine is strong on its floral characteristics. Once past the opening bouquet of white flowers and dried roses you find plums, black cherries, black raspberries, mint and cigar wrapper nuances. The palate provides a lush, opulent, as well as vibrant, energetic backdrop for its wealth of deep red fruits and oceanic influences. The finish has a touch of salty chalk that adds complexity to its wealth of silky, ripe, red fruits. Drink from 2025-2050. Tasted March 2023

Perfumed, delicate, generous and evocative all in equal measure. The fruit quality is excellent, so vibrant and lifted, shining out of the glass. Really bright with energy and dynamism. Lovely lifted expression full of rose petals, herbal-tinged raspberries, blackcurrants and plums. Chalky, creamy and salty, with a cooling freshness. Lots to like with classic elements as well as touches of the hot vintage. It’s not showing it’s best right now but this is delicious. Drinking Window: 2025 - 2044
Tasted by: Georgina Hindle (at Pomerol, 02 Jan 2023)
Part of St-Emilion 2020 in bottle: overview plus top-scoring wines

(14.15% ABV; 60% new)
Discreet, scented, gently minerally on the nose; full, fresh, finely tannic, a very nice balance; sweetly ripe in flavor, gently juicy, with lovely freshness, quite fine and transparent and with excellent length. A bit marked by its new wood, which dries the texture slightly, but this is a very attractive overall quality. 2026–40+.

Full bottle 1,365 g. Cask sample taken 6 April. 60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc. The grapes are kept for 12 hours in a cold room at 7 °C before passing through the optical sorter. Vinification by parcel in stainless-steel temperature-controlled tanks, filled by gravity without SO2. Alcoholic fermentation with both pumping over and punching down. Malolactic conversion in tanks (75%) and barrels (25%).
Dark, deep crimson. Very interesting and distinctive on the nose – fresher than most. Luscious and sweet on the palate with a little hint of oak. I have to say that I much prefer the nose to the palate at this juncture. But my score is for that impressive aroma and the nudging but (just) not-too-insistent tannins.