2000 Château Lafon-Rochet, Saint-Estephe, Grand Cru Classé, Red Bordeaux, France.
A big thank you to Tommy Struhm of Le Grand USA, maker of French oak barrels, who kindly shared this 2000 Lafon-Rochet Bordeaux with us at a recent lunch at Scala Osteria in Napa Valley, making for a special occassion indeed and it was showing fabulous well. This dark garnet 2000 Château Lafon-Rochet shows off its Medoc gravelly terroir and Cabernet Sauvignon dominated profile exceptionally nicely and the firm vintage has loosened its grip, allowing this Bordeaux to deliver, finally, well rounded performance with a subtle maturity of fruit, led by blackberry, mulberry/currant, plum and dark cherry on the full bodied palate. It should be noted, that Lafon-Rochet previously had a reputation for very tough, chewy tannic wines, but iIn recent vintages, the increased usage of Merlot has softened the Grand Vin here. There is lots of structure and the wine is full of rustic earthy charm, more classic in style with a leathery and meaty element, along with aloamy earthiness, worn cedary wood notes, anise and a hint of dark florals in this very dry and almost dusty offering, which I found very appealing. With vines ranging from 30 to 80 years old these days, Château Lafon-Rochet, which I believe, in 2000 saw close to 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and the rest being a touch of Petit Verdot and Franc, sees a good percentage of new wood, to help soften the high natural tannin, and is aged closer to 20 months in barrel.
I’ve only had the Lafon-Rochet a few times in my memory and so it was good to brush up on the more important facts here, I found that the Château Lafon-Rochet estate in the Saint-Estèphe appellation of the Bordeaux’s Medoc was included in the famous World’s Fair classification and is one of the 10 forth growths. The Château produced quality efforts here and was classified in the noted historic Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, though never was a top pick with collectors, but remains a solid value, as this 2000 shows. The Château Lafon-Rochet has 111 acres of vines set on the outer Medoc’s gravellly loam soils planted with Cabernet Sauvignon leading the way, along with a high percentage of Merlot, as well as smaller lots of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. A second wine is also produced under the label Les Pelerins de Lafon-Rochet, and most interesting of all is that the Château is owned by the Tesseron family, who made their fortune in the Cognac trade, but who also own the famed Château Pontet-Canet in Pauillac, one of Bordeaux’s modern legends and pioneers of biodynamic farming in this region. The majority of the Grand Vin bottlings see 48% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Merlot these days, and is, as the winery says, complemented by small amounts of Petit Verdot, around 3.5% and close to 3.5% Cabernet Franc, which adds to the complexity and finesse in the wines. I’m a huge fan of Pontet-Canet and for some reason didn’t know of the connection to Château Lafon-Rochet, so I will certainly now keep an eye out for nicely aged, ex-Château, bottles!
($79 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive