Chateau Lafleur Pomerol 1997

Chateau Lafleur

If Le Pin caresses your heart and Ausone is a wine that gently stimulates every nerve in the body, Château Lafleur is THE wine that engages the mind. The term "intellectual" is often attached to this unique Pomerol property, not because it is overly highbrow, but because it is a wine that is so hard to adequately describe. Deep, meaningful, and cerebral, softly spoken yet intense, it stands alone amongst the great names of the right bank. Made up of over 65% Cabernet Franc and only ever given a maximum 1/3 new oak, the miniscule 1000 cases production is the stuff of collectors and connoisseurs dreams. It is a wine of enormous depth and intensity fashioned from some of Pomerol's most exceptional terroir. 

Sylvie and Jacques Guinaudeau have been the exclusive owners since 2001, although the estate has been in the family from 1872. There have been many exceptional wines made throughout the last century, however, it is really only recently that the Guinaudeaus have received the plaudits they so richly deserve. Although it sounds like a contradiction, the Guinaudeaus are perfectionist winemakers with a very laissez-faire attitude. They only utilise natural fertilizers, yields are painfully low, they don't practice leaf thinning and lots of other trendy winemaking practices; they let their terroir speak through, and the results are astonishing.