2017 Lafon-Rochet
France
Saint Estèphe
Bordeaux
Red
68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot
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2022 - 2045
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2022 - 2032
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2020 - 2032
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2020 - 2040
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Basile has been “building” the Lafon-Rochet in recent years after taking the reins from his father Michel, not only in terms of investing in a new winery replete with de rigueur concrete vats, but building the reputation of the name itself. People talk of the “big three”: Cos d’Estournel, Montrose and Calon-Ségur. Clearly in Basile’s eyes it should be the “fab four” and you know what? Judging by the latest release that is entirely possible.
“Just before harvesting we were not sure the fruit was ripe, so we decided to wait,” Basile explains. “Lucas [Leclercq – technical director] had to go to Paris for his MBA. I was planning to go to Italy and I was about to cancel the trip. We saw our neighbors harvesting, so we said: let’s go into the vines and taste the berries. In our opinion the fruit was not ripe and so finally we went off on our trips to Paris and Italy and when we came back on Friday 19 September, we began. We actually picked one parcel on 15 September but stopped because it was too early. The harvesting is now more staggered compared to before, very different to how it used to be. It can take up to three weeks, so in 2017 we finished on 27 September. It was a vintage where the perfect ripening was not going to come easily. It was strange. The skin was not ready but the seeds were. These days we can sort around 80% of the fruit in the vineyard and the pickers know exactly what to look for. That is less brutal then when you sort in the winery. The color came easily because we had a little botrytis that enhanced extraction. We did a small pre-fermentation and a majority [of production], around 80%, is now fermented in the new concrete vats. They act like a Dutch oven insofar that they are very homogenous in terms of warmth during alcoholic fermentation. We don’t want a high temperature in order to maintain the aromas. The pH of 3.7 is higher than usual, since we are usually at 3.5 or 3.6pH. The cuvaison was 25 days, which was quite long and we did a délestage for just one vat. These days we are focusing more on the drinkability of the wine.”
This is a property that has come a long way since just a decade ago. I have caught glimpses of its potential but being the ever-objective critic, rarely felt as if it truly merited a place in the top rank of Saint-Estèphe. Whilst I would not claim it is the best wine of the appellation, I think the 2017 will surprise a few people in blind tastings once in bottle. It is certainly the first vintage at this prenatal stage, where I returned to my car and thought that Lafon-Rochet has a rightful place, shoulder-to-shoulder, with the other three big names that lest we forget, have far deeper pockets than the Tesseron family. Factor in potential price and Lafon-Rochet might represent the best value for money once released.
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