2022 Château Lafleur, Pomerol

Delivers the density and serious character of Lafleur, but while this is deep in colour it is not impenetrable, with more nuance than many, jewel ruby with vibrant reflections. Clear austerity to the tannins but this is a wine that always takes patience, and it provides a welcome sense of continuity in a vintage where the byword is excess. Confident, careful, precise, with red roses, peony, heather, slate, steel, graphite, incense, blueberry and raspberry fruit, and oyster shell salinity, layered and joyful, with cooling mint leaf on the finish. Jean-Baptiste Guinaudeau so often sets the conversation in a vintage, and he is doing so again here. Harvest September 3 to 17, 30% new oak. Potential 100.

Moving to the Grand Vin, the 2022 Château Lafleur is 51% Bouschet (an older selection of Cabernet Franc) and 49% Merlot brought up in a mix of new and used barrels. It's a concentrated beast of a wine offering incredibly purity in its red, blue, and black fruits as well as notes of spring flowers, minty herbs, graphite, and chocolate. Full-bodied on the palate, it has a great mid-palate, building tannins, and a straight, focused, inward style that's going to demand significant bottle age.

A deep, gourmand vintage for this singular estate, the 2022 Lafleur unfurls in the glass with aromas of mulberries and cherries mingled with hints of rose petal, iris, orange zest and vine smoke. Full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it's pure and seamless, with supple tannins, huge depth at the core and a long, resonant finish. One of the most characterful as well as most consistent wines produced in contemporary Bordeaux, it will surely emerge as one of the vintage's high points.

A structured Lafleur with tannins that spread across the palate that are polished and serious. Full and so beautiful. Shows complexity with white pepper, cloves, and rose stems. Velvety and thoughtful. 51% cabernet franc and 49% merlot.

The 2022 Lafleur is shaping up to be majestic. It is a wine of tremendous stature. All the elements are so well put together that nothing in particular stands out. There’s tremendous depth to the 2022, and the tannins are almost nonexistent. Cabernet Franc (Bouchet) inflections soar out of the glass to play off a deep, resonant dark fruit core. Mocha, dried herbs, menthol and rose petals add an exotic flair on the substantial finish. “We have to adapt to each vintage and essentially forget the past,” Baptiste Guinaudeau told me at Lafleur. “We opted for longer macerations, with no pigéage and fewer pumpovers than most years.”