Château Lafleur - 'Les Perrières de Lafleur' 2022

Since its foundation by Henri Greloud in 1872, Chateau Lafleur has been owned, managed, and most importantly, farmed by five successive generations of the same family. The Guinaudeau family are the real deal when it comes to vine growing. Fashions do not hold any weight here. It is all about the vines, the soils and the individuals who craft these wines of purity and balance.

The story of Château LaFleur starts with Henri Greloud, who owned Château Le Gay and was the first to produce single-vineyard wines in Pomerol. In 1872, he purchased one plot of 4.5 hectares of vines and began a complete restructuring of the vineyard, built the house and the cellars and called this place: Lafleur. In 1930s, Andre Robin worked to develop Bouchet (Cabernet Franc) massale in the vineyards. Their daughters, Therese and Marie Robin took over after Andre’s death in 1946 and kept things relatively the same for almost 40 years until 1984 when Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau, the great, great-grandchildren of Henri Greloud made arrangements to lease Chateau Lafleur from Marie Robin, the surviving sister. They got to work in 1985, replanting a quarter of the vines, and, when Marie Robin passed away, the Guinaudeaus sold their rights to Le Gay for afford the full ownership of Lafleur in 2002. Later that year, Baptiste Guinaudeau (son to Jacques and Sylvie) and his wife Julie joined them at Chateau Lafleur.

Château Lafleur is a 4.5 hectare property located on the northern crest of the plateau of Pomerol directly adjacent to Château Petrus and contiguous to Petrus, Le Gay, Vieux Château Certan and Hosanna.

Toward the north and west, there is thinner gravel hillock over brown clay. Along to the south, soils change to sandier soil over a gravelly-brown clay sub-soil. And eastward, the soil is predominantly gravel.

For nearly 40 years, sisters Marie and Thérese Robin Greloud remained decidedly old-school - everything was done by hand with small tools, and plowing was done with an ox until 1979. Chemicals or pesticides have never used on this land.

There are 24 separate parcels, with vines of Cabernet Franc (Bouchet) and Merlot interplanted in each block. The average age of the vines is 40 years old. They have the highest elevation for Cabernet Franc in the appellation, and highest percentage used in their wines. To repopulate the vineyard, all the old vines were grafted with massale selection by hand. They never purchased Merlot clones, and by doing so, Lafleur has some of the oldest vines in Bordeaux.

Today, the soils at Lafleur are never turned, allowing the stones to remain in place, radiating heat to the vines. Deep soil cutting close to the vines does happen to encourage the roots to seek lower nutrients.

'Les Perrières de Lafleur' is almost equial Cabernet Franc (Bouchet) and  Merlot. This cuvée was born in 2018 vintage after years of experimentation by Baptiste and Julie Guinaudeau to best showcase the unique Bouchet de Lafleur planted on the fossil-spotted limestone soils of Fronsac. The vineyards are perched 83 meters above the Dordogne river (nearly twice the elevation of Lafleur). Fermentation in stainless steel/concrete tanks with soft maceration and moderate tannin extraction. 15 months barrel aging(1/3 new oak and 2/3 one-year-old barrels).

"The 2022 Les Perrières De Lafleur is stunning stuff, with another level of purity and precision. Darker cherries, blue fruits, spring flowers, graphite, and crushed stone notes define this sensational 2022. It's medium to full-bodied, has a focused, layered, elegant mouthfeel, building tannins, and a great finish. It brings another level of purity, precision, and elegance over the Grand Village and is going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and have two decades of prime drinking." - 95 points, Jeb Dunnuck

"The 2022 Les Perrières is heady and explosive right out of the gate. Inky dark fruit, leather, incense, grilled herbs, tobacco and espresso saturate the palate. The blend of equal parts Merlot and Bouchet (Cabernet Franc) offers tons of complexity. Graphite, crushed rocks, menthol and sage all take shape in the glass. In 2022, vintage speaks a bit stronger than site, but this is still outstanding. Beams of tannin punctuate the persistent finish. Les Perrières is essentially genetic material from Lafleur planted in Fronsac. Its quality and price make Les Perrières a major sleeper and the wine to buy in this range from the Guinaudeau family." - 94 points, Antonio Galloni Vinous

"The 2022 Les Perrières de Lafleur is the broadest, most unctuous rendition of this wine to date, but it retains its taut, minerally identity for all that. Offering up aromas of mulberries, violets and pen ink, it's medium to full-bodied, rich and incisive, with terrific depth and persistence. As readers will remember, Les Perrières derives from parcels situated on the higher-altitude plateau of Fronsac, planted with vine material from Château Lafleur." - 95 points, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Producer: Château Lafleur

Country: France

Region: Bordeaux

Varietal:  Cabernet Franc, Merlot

Appellation: Bordeaux Supérieur

Vintage: 2022

Size: 750ml