Lafon Rochet 2019

St Estephe, Fourth Growth

Units	Size	Case size	GBP Price:	Quantities	Buy
114	75cl Bottle	Case 6	£150 per Case	Cases	[Add to shopping basket]

Tasting Notes
The 2019 Lafon-Rochet is tightly-wound on the nose, yet it seems delineated and focused, mineral-laden black fruit, sous-bois and dried tobacco scents unfurling in the glass. The palate is impressive with good concentration on the entry. This has an arching structure, fine acidity, off dry and slightly austere on the finish, but there is clearly the substance to ensure that it will age with style. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. Score: 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026-2050 01 February 2023
The 2019 Lafon-Rochet has a bouquet very similar to the sample I tasted last year, featuring disarming, fragrant, beautifully defined blackberry and crushed violet scents and fine mineralité and elegance. The palate is medium-bodied and fresh, with fine-grained tannins, gentle grip, and a little chalkiness toward the saline finish. Very classic in style, less fruit-driven than the previous vintage, but with greater persistence. Tasted three or four times, at the château and elsewhere. Score: 94 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025 - 2050 01 February 2022
The 2019 Lafon-Rochet, which was picked from 25 September to 5 October, requires a little coaxing from the glass, eventually unfurling with blackberry, bilberry, violet and light crushed stone/clayey scents that is quintessential Saint-Estèphe. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins, fresh and saline in the mouth, old school in the best sense of that expression. No, it is not the most flamboyant Lafon-Rochet, but it is imbued with a sense of nobility and classicism that I much admire. Tasted three times with consistent notes. Score: 93 - 95 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025-2050 16 June 2020
Brilliant stuff, the 2019 Château Lafon-Rochet shows the best of the vintage with its pure, precise, elegant, yet at the same time concentrated style. Showing lots of ripe currant, plum, tobacco, Asian spice, and cedar pencil aromatics, it's medium to full-bodied, has nicely integrated acidity, and just seamless tannins. It's beautifully done and well worth seeking out. It's going to evolve for 20-25+ years. Score: 95 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2022-2047 11 April 2022
A wine I don't get to taste as often as I'd like, the 2019 Château Lafon-Rochet is based on 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc from deep, gravelly soils in Saint-Estèphe. Deep purple-hued, with a great bouquet of ripe black and blue fruits intermixed with classic cedar pencil and tobacco, it's medium to full-bodied, has a balanced, elegant texture, silky tannins, and a great finish. It shows more floral and chocolaty notes with time in the glass and its purity of fruit is straight-up top notch. As with most 2019s, it's going to have plenty of upfront appeal yet should age effortlessly as well. Score: 93 - 95 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com 30 June 2020
The 2019 Lafon-Rochet has turned out nicely in bottle, mingling aromas of blackberries and red fruits with hints of violets and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless, with lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins, it's a bright, precise wine, with plenty of depth and structure to support sustained bottle age, but with enough modern polish to temper any suggestion of structural asperity. Score: 92 William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2025 - 2055 07 April 2022
Ripe blackcurrants and blackberries with hints of sweet tobacco, walnuts and dark chocolate. Medium-to full-bodied with firm, chewy tannins and lingering crushed-stone character. Firm finish with some nuttiness to it. Bold and solid, classic St.-Estephe. Try after 2026. Score: 94 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Maturity: 2026+ 10 February 2022
The purity of fruit and balance in this young St.-Estephe is really beautiful with crushed-currant, stone and orange-peel aromas and flavors. It’s medium-to full-bodied with fine tannins and a pretty finish. We will see if this is better than the 2018 or not. Score: 93 - 94 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 20 May 2020
The 2019 Lafon-Rochet is every bit as compelling today as it was from barrel. There is a feeling of elegance to the 2019 that is so striking. Sweet dark cherry, plum new leather, tobacco, licorice, spice and rose petal all grace the 2019 as it unwinds to its long finish. Lafon-Rochet is not huge nor obvious, as some Saint-Estèphes are, but it is absolutely compelling. Score: 95 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2029 - 2049 01 February 2022
The 2019 Lafon-Rochet is absolutely gorgeous. Dark and powerful, yet also wonderfully translucent, the 2019 has so much to offer. Black cherry, licorice, spice, sweet tobacco, leather and dried herbs infuse the 2019 with striking layers of dimension and nuance. There is so much going on in this potent wine; this is a real sleeper in Saint-Estèphe. Score: 93 - 95 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com 01 June 2020
Clear tension and hold that heads towards austere, with tannins that close in on the finish and an emphasis on gunsmoke graphite and pencil lead. This needs time in the glass, but unwinds to show cassis and bilberry fruits, a little subdued but impressive, with potential to develop further over the next 10 to 15 years. The penultimate vintage under Basile Tesseron, just as this wine is reaching the market, ownership has changed from the Tesseron family to Jacky Lorenzetti. Score: 93 Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2027-2044 12 January 2022
Spiced pepper and cinnamon on the first nose, good concentration, pencil lead and slate abound in this alongside cassis bud and touches of brambled hedgerow, all of which suggests fresh acidities and good backbone. Some chewy tannins also, this is a serious Lafon that will age well. Less immediately seductive than the 2018. Tasted twice two weeks apart. Score: 93 Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2026-2042 30 May 2020
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot. Barrel sample. Dark and subdued but very fresh. Adequate fruit but long and linear with plenty of drive. Good persistence and lovely palate-cleansing finish. Score: 16+ James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2027-2038 20 June 2020

Tasting Notes

The 2019 Lafon-Rochet is tightly-wound on the nose, yet it seems delineated and focused, mineral-laden black fruit, sous-bois and dried tobacco scents unfurling in the glass. The palate is impressive with good concentration on the entry. This has an arching structure, fine acidity, off dry and slightly austere on the finish, but there is clearly the substance to ensure that it will age with style. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

Score: 93

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026-2050 01 February 2023

The 2019 Lafon-Rochet has a bouquet very similar to the sample I tasted last year, featuring disarming, fragrant, beautifully defined blackberry and crushed violet scents and fine mineralité and elegance. The palate is medium-bodied and fresh, with fine-grained tannins, gentle grip, and a little chalkiness toward the saline finish. Very classic in style, less fruit-driven than the previous vintage, but with greater persistence. Tasted three or four times, at the château and elsewhere.

Score: 94

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025 - 2050 01 February 2022

The 2019 Lafon-Rochet, which was picked from 25 September to 5 October, requires a little coaxing from the glass, eventually unfurling with blackberry, bilberry, violet and light crushed stone/clayey scents that is quintessential Saint-Estèphe. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins, fresh and saline in the mouth, old school in the best sense of that expression. No, it is not the most flamboyant Lafon-Rochet, but it is imbued with a sense of nobility and classicism that I much admire. Tasted three times with consistent notes.

Score: 93 - 95

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025-2050 16 June 2020

Brilliant stuff, the 2019 Château Lafon-Rochet shows the best of the vintage with its pure, precise, elegant, yet at the same time concentrated style. Showing lots of ripe currant, plum, tobacco, Asian spice, and cedar pencil aromatics, it's medium to full-bodied, has nicely integrated acidity, and just seamless tannins. It's beautifully done and well worth seeking out. It's going to evolve for 20-25+ years.

Score: 95

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2022-2047 11 April 2022

A wine I don't get to taste as often as I'd like, the 2019 Château Lafon-Rochet is based on 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc from deep, gravelly soils in Saint-Estèphe. Deep purple-hued, with a great bouquet of ripe black and blue fruits intermixed with classic cedar pencil and tobacco, it's medium to full-bodied, has a balanced, elegant texture, silky tannins, and a great finish. It shows more floral and chocolaty notes with time in the glass and its purity of fruit is straight-up top notch. As with most 2019s, it's going to have plenty of upfront appeal yet should age effortlessly as well.

Score: 93 - 95

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com 30 June 2020

The 2019 Lafon-Rochet has turned out nicely in bottle, mingling aromas of blackberries and red fruits with hints of violets and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless, with lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins, it's a bright, precise wine, with plenty of depth and structure to support sustained bottle age, but with enough modern polish to temper any suggestion of structural asperity.

Score: 92

William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2025 - 2055 07 April 2022

Ripe blackcurrants and blackberries with hints of sweet tobacco, walnuts and dark chocolate. Medium-to full-bodied with firm, chewy tannins and lingering crushed-stone character. Firm finish with some nuttiness to it. Bold and solid, classic St.-Estephe. Try after 2026.

Score: 94

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Maturity: 2026+ 10 February 2022

The purity of fruit and balance in this young St.-Estephe is really beautiful with crushed-currant, stone and orange-peel aromas and flavors. It’s medium-to full-bodied with fine tannins and a pretty finish. We will see if this is better than the 2018 or not.

Score: 93 - 94

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 20 May 2020

The 2019 Lafon-Rochet is every bit as compelling today as it was from barrel. There is a feeling of elegance to the 2019 that is so striking. Sweet dark cherry, plum new leather, tobacco, licorice, spice and rose petal all grace the 2019 as it unwinds to its long finish. Lafon-Rochet is not huge nor obvious, as some Saint-Estèphes are, but it is absolutely compelling.

Score: 95

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2029 - 2049 01 February 2022

The 2019 Lafon-Rochet is absolutely gorgeous. Dark and powerful, yet also wonderfully translucent, the 2019 has so much to offer. Black cherry, licorice, spice, sweet tobacco, leather and dried herbs infuse the 2019 with striking layers of dimension and nuance. There is so much going on in this potent wine; this is a real sleeper in Saint-Estèphe.

Score: 93 - 95

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com 01 June 2020

Clear tension and hold that heads towards austere, with tannins that close in on the finish and an emphasis on gunsmoke graphite and pencil lead. This needs time in the glass, but unwinds to show cassis and bilberry fruits, a little subdued but impressive, with potential to develop further over the next 10 to 15 years. The penultimate vintage under Basile Tesseron, just as this wine is reaching the market, ownership has changed from the Tesseron family to Jacky Lorenzetti.

Score: 93

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2027-2044 12 January 2022

Spiced pepper and cinnamon on the first nose, good concentration, pencil lead and slate abound in this alongside cassis bud and touches of brambled hedgerow, all of which suggests fresh acidities and good backbone. Some chewy tannins also, this is a serious Lafon that will age well. Less immediately seductive than the 2018. Tasted twice two weeks apart.

Score: 93

Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2026-2042 30 May 2020

60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot. Barrel sample. Dark and subdued but very fresh. Adequate fruit but long and linear with plenty of drive. Good persistence and lovely palate-cleansing finish.

Score: 16+

James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2027-2038 20 June 2020

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