I am not sure when the 2019 Lafleur is going to be ready to drink, but it is not going to be anytime soon. A huge, powerful wine, the 2019 Lafleur possesses tremendous intensity and energy, but less of the immediate charm of many recent vintages. All of its energy is focused inward. Hints of gravel, crushed rocks, graphite, dried herbs and sweet pipe tobacco gradually emerge over time. The purity of the flavors here is just unreal. The 2019 Lafleur is another magnificent wine from the Guinaudeau family.

You know what they say, no guts, no glory. 2019 Lafleur is the wine of the vintage! It takes only one sniff and sip to recognize the greatness in this wine. The opaque, purple hue is your first clue as to the character of the wine. But the explosive nose, with its flowers, tobacco leaf, herbs, black, red, and blue fruits is like a theater curtain with seemingly endless layers that need to be unfurled before you get to the main show. Intensely concentrated, the wine coats and fills every nook and cranny of your palate with non-stop, massive waves of perfectly ripe, rich fruits and tannins. The seamless finish is breathtaking for its length, which races past the 60-second mark. This is not a wine to drink young. Give it some time, at least one decade, and maybe two of cellaring before opening a bottle! Drink from 2030-2065.

If tasting the 2019 Château Lafleur doesn't just blow you away, I'm not sure what will. A perfect wine, if such a thing exists, it offers such a complex, singular profile in its black raspberries, kirsch liqueur, licorice, exotic flowers, white truffles, and sandalwood. On the palate, it has serious structure, yet the tannins build with time in the glass, and the mid-palate density and balance are so flawlessly integrated, you have to actually hunt for the structure. Pure, sensationally rich, and at the same time elegant, with awesome depth of fruit, this is what wine dreams are made of. It might be the finest young wine to ever pass my lips. It needs a solid decade of bottle age, 15 years would be even better (it will still blow your mind any time over the coming decade), and it will evolve gracefully over the following 30-40 years.

Fresh berries, plums, damsons, sloes, a touch of spice and irises and peonies. But that’s just the start. For as this gathers in the air, breathes, relaxes and then exhales just a little it releases more floral notes, almonds too, pain d’épices, cassis and then, eventually, graphite and cedar. Quite ethereal. But what is most amazing about this wine is its structure and the dynamism in the mouth that it imparts. The potential here is quite staggering. One of the most remarkable tasting experiences of my life. Drinking Window 2030 - 2080
Tasted by Colin Hay (at Pomerol, 05 Mar 2022)
Part of Understanding Pomerol at three price points

The 2019 Lafleur is an utterly profound young wine that unwinds in the glass with aromas of rose petals, raspberries and sweet spices mingled with notions of blood orange, violets and fresh tobacco that are hauntingly reminiscent of this estate's great 1982. Full-bodied, deep and seamless, it's layered and multidimensional, with a concentrated core of vibrant fruit, lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins, concluding with a long, searingly intense finish. This magical Lafleur is unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage. WK

The 2019 Lafleur has a bouquet that takes its time to unfurl in the glass, then renders you speechless. Mind-bogglingly intense black fruit, crushed stone and a hint of licorice display astonishing delineation, and blue fruit emerges with time. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled tannins. As is customary, this feels very strict and, on reflection, represents the most quintessential Lafleur I have tasted in my many years of visiting the estate. Tensile from start to finish, it fans out audaciously and seems to never end. Baptiste Guinaudeau compared it with the 2005 and described it as a "[four-letter-expletive] you" Lafleur. When you taste this, you see what he means. An awe-inspiring Pomerol that will give decades of drinking pleasure for those prepared to wait.

This is crazy on the nose with crushed stones and violets really rising above the glass, together with iodine, seaweed and ink. Spellbinding. Full-bodied, yet so tight and reserved, with a fine cashmere-like texture and endless length and energy. You can sense the stones and the earth here, but then it reaches to the skies. It’s open, but you feel the depth of the soil. A reference point for the vintage. Try after 2028.