Château Lafon-Rochet 2022

The 2022 Lafon-Rochet is a rich, ripe, somewhat Napa-styled Saint-Estèphe, offering up aromas of sweet jammy berries, fig preserve, licorice and creamy new oak, followed by a full-bodied, soft and plush palate. Readers who gravitate toward this style of wine will love it.

Silky smooth with excellent freshness, with firm, fleshy tannins and a minty, liquorice-tinged freshness throughout. Tannins are fine and supportive, giving a broad mouthfeel while keeping direction and forward motion. Sophisticated, with plenty of layers of flavour while retaining a classic touch despite the tough vintage conditions. Still a little shy—give this a few years—but great potential for future enjoyment. Strength and succulence. Brilliant.

The 2022 Lafon-Rochet has a well-defined bouquet with pure blackberry and blueberry fruit, the oak better integrated here than the disappointing Haut-Marbuzet. The palate is medium-bodied with rounded tannins, a keen line of acidity, black pepper and seaweed-tinged black fruit, with a nicely composed, quite persistent finish. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

This is gorgeous from start to finish. Supple, lush, and creamy, the wine is full-bodied, intense, long, and complex. The layers of fruit, with their length and purity, make a statement on your palate. This is one of those wines where one sniff and one sip are not enough. You’ll want to try it again for the sheer pleasure. The finish delivers length and lift, the perfect backdrop for all the polished blackberries, black cherries, chocolate, and spice. The wine blends 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc. This is the first vintage with the new owner, Jackie Lorenzetti, and the team of Emmanuel Cruse fully in charge. They’re off to a great start, as this is without a doubt the best vintage of Lafon Rochet ever produced! Drink from 2028–2050.

Rocking notes of currants, leafy tobacco, cassis, graphite, and crushed stone nuances all emerge from the 2022 Château Lafon-Rochet, a seriously good, concentrated, powerful expression from this château that has beautiful purity, ripe, building, yet substantial tannins, and a great finish. It's going to need some time, but this is brilliant.

Opulent blueberry bouquet, blackcurrant, dried rosemary and cooled rosehip tea. On the straight-lined palate with a silky texture, sandy extract, a tight-knit tannic framework and medium body. In the focused finish, plum skin, dark minerality and finely crumbly astringency, rounded.

New team under ex-Lafite winemaker Christophe Congé (who will be heading to sibling estate Pédéslaux for the 2025 vintage), there is plenty happening at Lafon Rochet, and this is intense, enjoyable, well put together, with slightly rustic tannins on the finish that highlight their edges a little more than during En Primeur, but it seems set for the long haul, balanced by plentiful black fruits. 50% new oak for ageing. 60% 1st wine, down from 70% in 2021, as the new team focuses heavily on quality.

A slight hint of reduction on the nose, which quickly fades to reveal subtle notes of flowers and cocoa beans. On the palate, perfect clarity, with an explosion of ripe fruit—warm, chocolatey and lightly toasted.

The nose opens perfumed, roasted and smoky (with integrated notes of roasted meat, roasted red cherry, and background smoke). It then reveals ripe fruit aromas—fresh, even dried, bigarreau cherry, morello cherry, crushed strawberry, blackcurrant—along with a mentholated touch (dried mint, pine needles, a hint of rosemary), sweet spices (licorice, star anise in the background, cardamom), plus a toasty note (toasted hazelnut, chocolate, a tangy hint of cocoa nibs) and a floral backdrop (violet, lilac). The palate is a bit more closed and tangy. It shows flavors of morello cherry, blueberry, blackcurrant, bigarreau cherry, combined with spicy notes of licorice and cardamom, a touch of white pepper, fresh and toasted wood, toasted hazelnut, and tangy cocoa nibs. The tannins are gripping yet finely grained. The finish leans to bird cherry, with a mouthwatering acidity that balances the tannins. Straight-lined, fresh, with a fine acid spine and vibrancy, though the wine is currently closed.

Black color with purple highlights. Intense, refined, fruity, pure and complex nose. Superb palate with flesh and bright fruit, where the wine unfolds complete, rich and deep. Very good length with no tannic edges. Blend: 65% cabernet sauvignon, 31% merlot, 4% cabernet franc. Alcohol: 14.5% - pH: 3.77. IPT: 83. Yield: 29 hl/ha.

Always appealing, with its blue clays softening the power inherent to the appellation and the vintage. A very fine bouquet delivering licorice, crunchy plum, raspberry and floral nuances (31% fine Merlots); the plentiful, fresh, refined tannins do not obscure a creamy mid-palate. Already indulgent.

A spectacular nose: complex, pure, ripe-fruited, floral, blackberry, tobacco, leafy, inviting; on the palate it’s structured, full-bodied, rich, with crisp fruit, grainy tannins, great length. The best Lafon-Rochet ever.