Lafleur 1997

The 1997 Lafleur shows better than the bottle I tasted in 2018. It has a light bouquet, earthy with undergrowth scents, missing a little vivacity but there is commendable delineation. The palate is admittedly simple but shows a tad more substance than the 75cl bottle, straightforward but undeniably pretty with a dash of cracked black pepper on the finish. Fine. Tasted from ex-château magnum at Kate & Kon's 40-Year vertical in Austria. (Drink between 2025-2035)

This recent tasting was the first time I had ever tried the 1997 Château Lafleur and the wine was excellent in quality and clearly transcendental of the overall level of the vintage. Our host, who shared the bottle, commented that it was structurally hard as nails when he first got around to opening a bottle around fifteen years of age, but it was starting to stir as it closes in on its twenty-fifth year in bottle. The bouquet is deep and black fruity, wafting from the glass in a mix of dark berries, black plums, cigar ash, a touch of tariness, dark soil tones, coffee grounds, plenty of smokiness and a hint of sealing wax in the upper register. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and shows off pretty good mid-palate depth, with moderate tannins, fine length and grip and a well-balanced finish. This is not a great Lafleur by any stretch of the imagination, but a great 1997 and a really quite good drink. (Drink between 2021-2050)

An impressively saturated dense ruby/purple color is followed by the classic Lafleur aromas : jammy black raspberries, kirsch liqueur, prunes, and minerals. Forward, full-bodied, and sexy, with an unctuous texture, and gobs of sweet tannin, this is a luxurious, evolved Lafleur that will provide gorgeous drinking in 2-3 years, and last for two decades.