Complex aromas of blackberry and whole white truffles with hints of wet earth and stones. Full body and structured with gorgeous, velvety tannins, but reserved and polished. Very long finish with fabulous fruit. Goes on for minutes. This is all class: the red wine of the vintage. Better in 2019.

This Lafleur effort in 2011 is truly stupendous and once again shows the greatness of its terroir. This was one of the driest vintages on record here and the berries were incredibly small, giving concentrated juice. The extraction, however, has been done with great skill, and the wine is beautifully fresh, balanced and textured. Deeply coloured, the primary black fruit nose builds and builds in the glass. A blend of 53% Cabernet Franc and 47% Merlot, there's real depth and complexity with plush, polished tannins and a concentration of delicious dark fruits - plum, mulberry and damson - joined by touches of dark chocolate, cured meat and spice. It's still very much in its first flush of youth and is not even close to being broached. Drinking Window 2023 - 2040
Tasted by John Stimpfig (at Christie's, London, 10 May 2018)
Part of Château Lafleur vertical: 1993-2013

A contender for wine of the vintage, the wine offered layers of ripe, richly textured, plums, truffle, mocha and black cherry. For Lafleur, a wine that often needs 2 decades before it's fun to drink, this will start drinking well by the time it's 10 years of age.

The 2011 Lafleur has an almost Left Bank-like bouquet, well-defined and poised, quite fresh with tobacco and cigar box scents emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins with a fine bead of acidity. Quite fresh and lightly spiced with white pepper and tobacco emerging towards the finish. This is a deeply impressive Pomerol in context of the growing season. Tasted blind at the annual 10-Year-On tasting.

This tiny jewel of a property has produced a beautifully rich 2011 Lafleur from a blend of 53% Cabernet Franc and 47% Merlot. The Merlot was picked between August 31 and September 12, and the Cabernet Franc between September 22-23. The 2011 reveals a floral-scented bouquet with notions of kirsch, licorice and black raspberries. It is medium to full-bodied with terrific fruit purity, good minerality and slightly more acidity and freshness than are found in such ripe vintages as 2009 and 2010. At present, the Guinandeau family, the owners, are using between 50-60% new oak in an attempt to emphasize their great terroir and the extraordinary fruit quality they achieve from both the old vine Cabernet Franc and Merlot. This cuvee possesses some serious tannin and will undoubtedly need 5-6 years of cellaring after its release, but it should be one of the longer-lived wines of the vintage, lasting 25+ years.

Bright, deep ruby-red. Bright, cool aromas of black cherry and cassis, with a distinct white pepper cabernet franc lift and lots of floral perfume (a whopping 63% cabernet franc here!). Sweetly oaky and lush, with lovely inner-mouth perfume to its shockingly forward flavors of strawberry, cocoa and minerals. Precise, seamless and light on its feet, this builds subtly and lingers on the finish, leaving behind a note of flinty blackcurrant. This wine has really softened since the Primeurs. "Actually, I was aiming for that," Baptiste Guinaudeau told me. "I knew we'd have no difficulty getting tannins in 2011 so all of my winemaking was aimed at extracting as gently as possible." Ian D'Agata

Drink 2019-2030 Jacques Guinaudeau describes the 2011s as more 'secret' than the exuberant 2009s and the exceptional 2010s. 47% Merlot (31 August, 12 September), 53% Cabernet Franc (22-23 September). The best Merlots were those they picked on 31 August. Very small berries and they had to limit the height of the canopy to reduce the water stress. A little note of mint here too, from the Merlot, but there's also a dark-fruited sweetness and a note of red cherry, small berries, and a hint of something floral. Fragrant. And a dusty minerality. Utterly fresh, so fleeting, it seems, on the palate but then it goes on and on. Starts dry and grows softer on the finish. There's a dark but lightweight minerality. So, so long. (JH)