Chateau Lafon-Rochet 2014
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Suckling
James -
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Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Here’s a St.-Estèphe that’s really appealing young but also has good aging potential. Great balance between crisp acidity, ripe fruit and elegant dry tannins. The finish is long and rather subtle. Hard not to drink now.
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Wine Enthusiast
Big-hearted fruit dominates this smooth wine. The estate, owned by the Tesseron family and close to their other property of Pontet-Canet, is performing well and it shows in this juicy ripe wine, full of generous tannins. The aftertaste shows both acidity and concentration. Drink from 2022.
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Vinous
The 2014 Lafon-Rochet has a quintessential Saint-Estèphe nose with black fruit, balsam, red fruit, cigar box and incense. The palate is fleshy and open with fine-grain tannins and well-judged acidity. It's harmonious and poised, with just the right amount of dryness on the finish. This is drinking beautifully now but has the substance to age. Tasted at the Lafon-Rochet vertical at the property.
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Decanter
This is being prepared for shipping in November 2016, and underlines the fact that the northern Médoc produced some exceptionally fine wines in this vintage – often better than the 2015s (and almost invariably for a lower consumer price). This is showing a deep, rich lustre to the fruit, with bilberry, black cherry, liquorice and cedar spice. Always a concentrated wine, this is expectedly closed right now, but the tannins are beautifully ripe. Expect to wait another five to six years before it really opens up, but this is a lovely wine, full of energy and finesse.
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Wine Spectator
This delivers a direct beam of red and black currant fruit mixed with a note of blood orange. Picks up tobacco and warm stone accents through the finish. Best from 2018 through 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Lafon Rochet has a very attractive, slightly floral bouquet with raspberry and crushed strawberry fruit, a touch of rose petals lending this a feminine allure. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, ripe tannins. This feels quite dense in the mouth, a welcome pinch of white pepper and cedar lending complexity to the finish with tart cherries on the aftertaste. This is probably more forward than other Saint Estephe wines, but it should give 15-20 years of pleasure.
Other Vintages
2022- Vinous
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Suckling
James - Decanter
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Dunnuck
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Robert
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Suckling
James -
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Jeb - Decanter
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Dunnuck
Jeb -
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James - Decanter
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Robert
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Dunnuck
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Wong
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Robert
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Robert - Vinous
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Connoisseurs'
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Robert - Vinous
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The chateau is in a choice location, in one of the most prestigious winegrowing areas in the world – between Cos d'Estoumel and Lafite-Rothschild (to the south). It is thus hardly surprising that Guy Tesseron, famous for the quality of his old Cognac, was attracted to Lafon-Rochet some 40 years ago.
After acquiring the estate, he decided that the existing cellar was unworthy of such a fine wine, and had it razed. He built an entirely new one and, in a highly unusual move, built a new chateau as well, in the style of the 17th century chartreuse manor house. Thanks to the great care and attention lavished on Lafon-Rochet, it has become one of the standard bearers of the great wines of Saint-Estèphe in France and around the world.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Deeply colored, concentrated, and distinctive, St. Estephe is the go-to for great, age-worthy and reliable Bordeaux reds. Separated from Pauillac merely by a stream, St. Estephe is the farthest northwest of the highest classed villages of the Haut Medoc and is therefore subject to the most intense maritime influence of the Atlantic.
St. Estephe soils are rich in gravel like all of the best sites of the Haut Medoc but here the formation of gravel over clay creates a cooler atmosphere for its vines compared to those in the villages farther downstream. This results in delayed ripening and wines with higher acidity compared to the other villages.
While they can seem a bit austere when young, St. Estephe reds prove to live very long in the cellar. Traitionally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, many producers now add a significant proportion of Merlot to the blend, which will soften any sharp edges of the more tannic, Cabernet.
The St. Estephe village contains two second growths, Chateau Montrose and Cos d’Estournel.