A dense, structured red with plums and currants and hints of cedar and chocolate powder. Medium to full body. Juicy fruit. Flavorful finish.
Reviews:
- Vinous: The 2017 Lafleur-Gazin is plump, juicy and wonderfully inviting in 2017. Cedar, pipe tobacco, cinnamon and dried flowers add lovely top notes to the bright, red-toned fruit in this mid-weight, gracious Pomerol. Best of all, the 2017 can be enjoyed with minimal cellaring. This is a very pretty, gracious wine.
- Decanter: Nose a little subdued here but the flavours are pure and well defined on the palate, with softly-spun pepper and rosemary notes. Savoury feel overall, but one that has poise and balance and will be ready to drink within a few years. Lightly structured but well-put together and with extraction that was extremely carefully handed. Enjoyable, and taken on weight during ageing.
Producer Information
Château Lafleur-Gazin is an estate in the Pomerol appellation on Bordeaux’s Right Bank. Its grand vin, like many others in the appellation, is made from a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. As the name suggests, the 8.5-hectare (21-acre) vineyard is located between Château Lafleur and Château Gazin. Most of the vineyard has the gravel soils that are typical of the top of the Pomerol plateau, and sandier soils on the slopes down towards the Barbanne stream. Lafleur-Gazin’s vineyard is planted 80 percent to Merlot with the remainder made up of Cabernet Franc. The proportions in the final wine may vary by some distance from this – the 2015 vintage contained just two percent Cabernet Franc. Grapes are sorted in the winery using two laser sorting tables, and fermented in a combination of concrete and stainless steel tanks, all thermoregulated. Lafleur-Gazin uses vertical basket presses, with press wines added back to the blend during maturation. The wine is aged for 18-20 months in French oak barrels, with 25 percent new wood. It is racked three or four times during maturation and fined with egg whites before bottling. Château Lafleur-Gazin is owned by the Borderie family, but since 1976 has been under a long term rental agreement with Jean-Pierre Moueix Vins, which farms the property and produces and markets the wines.
