Jeb Dunnuck (98)

One of my favorite wines (although it's hard to find), La Violette makes a rich, sexy, yet always elegant and seamless style of Pomerol. Their 2019 Château La Violette is deep purple-hued and offers an incredible perfume of blue fruits, iron, tobacco, spice box, flowers, and loamy earth. Full-bodied on the palate, it shows the pure, elegant style of the vintage, has beautiful tannins, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. There's lots of creamy background oak that needs time to integrate, but this is another remarkable release from this team. Give it a few years and enjoy over the following 20-25.

Jeb Dunnuck (98)

One of my favorite wines (although it's hard to find), La Violette makes a rich, sexy, yet always elegant and seamless style of Pomerol. Their 2019 Château La Violette is deep purple-hued and offers an incredible perfume of blue fruits, iron, tobacco, spice box, flowers, and loamy earth. Full-bodied on the palate, it shows the pure, elegant style of the vintage, has beautiful tannins, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. There's lots of creamy background oak that needs time to integrate, but this is another remarkable release from this team. Give it a few years and enjoy over the following 20-25.

Jeb Dunnuck (98)

One of my favorite wines (although it's hard to find), La Violette makes a rich, sexy, yet always elegant and seamless style of Pomerol. Their 2019 Château La Violette is deep purple-hued and offers an incredible perfume of blue fruits, iron, tobacco, spice box, flowers, and loamy earth. Full-bodied on the palate, it shows the pure, elegant style of the vintage, has beautiful tannins, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. There's lots of creamy background oak that needs time to integrate, but this is another remarkable release from this team. Give it a few years and enjoy over the following 20-25.

Jeb Dunnuck (94-96)

Emerging from the team at Château Le Gay, the 2020 Château La Violette is just a stunningly elegant, medium to full-bodied Pomerol that’s as pure as they come, offering gorgeous notes of red, blue, and black fruits, violets, iron, and chalky minerality. It’s relatively forward and supple on the palate, with moderate acidity, but the balance is spot on, it has silky tannins, and it just sings on the finish. This thrilling Pomerol is going to benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and cruise for two decades.

Jeb Dunnuck (94-96)

Emerging from the team at Château Le Gay, the 2020 Château La Violette is just a stunningly elegant, medium to full-bodied Pomerol that’s as pure as they come, offering gorgeous notes of red, blue, and black fruits, violets, iron, and chalky minerality. It’s relatively forward and supple on the palate, with moderate acidity, but the balance is spot on, it has silky tannins, and it just sings on the finish. This thrilling Pomerol is going to benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and cruise for two decades.

Jeb Dunnuck (94-96)

Emerging from the team at Château Le Gay, the 2020 Château La Violette is just a stunningly elegant, medium to full-bodied Pomerol that’s as pure as they come, offering gorgeous notes of red, blue, and black fruits, violets, iron, and chalky minerality. It’s relatively forward and supple on the palate, with moderate acidity, but the balance is spot on, it has silky tannins, and it just sings on the finish. This thrilling Pomerol is going to benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and cruise for two decades.

Jeb Dunnuck (94-96)

Emerging from the team at Château Le Gay, the 2020 Château La Violette is just a stunningly elegant, medium to full-bodied Pomerol that’s as pure as they come, offering gorgeous notes of red, blue, and black fruits, violets, iron, and chalky minerality. It’s relatively forward and supple on the palate, with moderate acidity, but the balance is spot on, it has silky tannins, and it just sings on the finish. This thrilling Pomerol is going to benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and cruise for two decades.

Vinous - Neal Martin (93-95)

The 2021 La Violette has a typically precocious bouquet with violet-tinged blackberry and cassis fruit. The oak is nicely integrated and it feels less ostentatious than previous vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannins and good grip. This is very pure with a dash of black pepper infusing the mélange of black and blue fruit. There is plenty of substance on the finish that should ensure this Pomerol will age well in bottle.

Vinous - Neal Martin (93-95)

The 2021 La Violette has a typically precocious bouquet with violet-tinged blackberry and cassis fruit. The oak is nicely integrated and it feels less ostentatious than previous vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannins and good grip. This is very pure with a dash of black pepper infusing the mélange of black and blue fruit. There is plenty of substance on the finish that should ensure this Pomerol will age well in bottle.

James Suckling (96-97)

Firm and layered with very fine tannins and impressive blackberry, dark chocolate and spice character, yet it is very reserved and beautiful. Medium to full body. Refined tannins and a savory finish. A sleek and linear beauty. Terrific potential here.

James Suckling (96-97)

Firm and layered with very fine tannins and impressive blackberry, dark chocolate and spice character, yet it is very reserved and beautiful. Medium to full body. Refined tannins and a savory finish. A sleek and linear beauty. Terrific potential here.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (96)

The 2023 La Violette is terrific. Ample and explosive, La Violette dials up an exotic mix of inky dark fruit, licorice, lavender, chocolate and leather. Fermentation and aging in barrel exalts textural nuance. As always, La Violette represents an especially opulent style within Bordeaux.

Decanter (98)

The depth and concentration of the vintage meant that Lafleur remained fiercely closed for a number of years, emphasising even more than usual how different it is from many of its Pomerol siblings. Today it is uncurled and impossible to ignore. Still an intellectual take on this most exceptional of Pomerol vintages, complex and subtle with wisps of cold ash and flint against a richer blackberry cushion of fruit, richly textured but still firmly in control. Now inching towards its full expression, tantalisingly close and sure to deliver this level of brilliance for decades to come. 50% new oak.

Vinous - Neal Martin (93)

The 1999 Lafleur flies under the radar between the feted 1998 and 2000 vintages. However, it should not be under-estimated. It has a lucid deep color. The bouquet is not dissimilar to the previous bottle tasted in 2012, blessed with pure blackberry and briary scents, hints of gravel that render it not a million miles away from a Left Bank. The palate is very well balanced and seems silkier than ever. Whilst it does not possess the mineral core of the 1998, it has a disarmingly pure and graceful finish. Whilst not a Lafleur of immense length or grandeur it is approachable and beautifully crafted. Tasted at the “International Wine & Business” Lafleur dinner at Ten Trinity, London.

Vinous - Neal Martin (93)

The 1999 Lafleur flies under the radar between the feted 1998 and 2000 vintages. However, it should not be under-estimated. It has a lucid deep color. The bouquet is not dissimilar to the previous bottle tasted in 2012, blessed with pure blackberry and briary scents, hints of gravel that render it not a million miles away from a Left Bank. The palate is very well balanced and seems silkier than ever. Whilst it does not possess the mineral core of the 1998, it has a disarmingly pure and graceful finish. Whilst not a Lafleur of immense length or grandeur it is approachable and beautifully crafted. Tasted at the “International Wine & Business” Lafleur dinner at Ten Trinity, London.

Vinous - Neal Martin (100)

The 2000 Lafleur is a benchmark wine that prefigures the estate's wines in the 21st century. Though I have tasted it a dozen or so times from bottle, this was my first time in magnum…and what a wine! Showing only modest bricking at its rim, the nose is a symphony of aromas, an aromatic Pandora's Box: blackberry, wild hedgerow, black truffle, pencil box and gravel give way to more red fruit and rose petals. The palate has a heavenly balance with perfectly pitched acidity that effortlessly counterbalances the sheer weight and density of this wine. Previous examples have warned me away from cracking this open, but despite its larger format, this example is the first that entertains the notion of drinkability. That said, the 2000 is clearly a Pomerol that will span decades. The grandeur of this Lafleur is entrancing. Tasted from ex-château magnum at Kate & Kon's 40-Year vertical in Austria.