Tasting Notes
Vinous 93
The 2009 Lafon-Rochet feels just a little pinched at first, but it soon opens with blackberry, bilberry, cedar and antique armchair aromas. Very fine delineation here. The palate is medium-bodied with supple and very fine tannin, pure black fruit laced with cedar and black pepper, segueing into a slightly earthy but persistent finish. Maybe it just needs a little more grip but otherwise this is a great Lafon-Rochet from Basile Tesseron. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.
Anticipated maturity: 2021-2040
Robert Parker 93
Served blind at the Southwold 2009 tasting. This is a strong performance from Lafon-Rochet. There is a lot of high class new oak on the nose here, but there is plenty of ripe black fruit to support it: dark plum, blackcurrant and graphite. The palate is medium-bodied with a dense, grippy entry and a rather saturnine mid-palate. Closed, broody, obdurate and yet there is certainly decent weight of fruit here. At the moment it is unapologetically charmless but its time will come. Kudos Basile Tesseron. Tasted January 2013.
JancisRobinson.com 17/20
Tasted blind. Simple crimson. A suggestion of some rather strange oak on the nose. Then very round and worked on the palate. Atypical for the appellation and a bit pinched on the end. But quite dramatic.
Anticipated maturity: 2023-2038
