Château Lafon-Rochet - Saint Estephe Bordeaux 2016 (750ml)

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Producer	Château Lafon-Rochet
Country	France
Region	Bordeaux
Subregion	Saint Estephe
Varietal	Red Blend
Vintage	2016
Sku	8588

 

The 2016 Lafon-Rochet has a very engaging bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit laced with pencil shavings and loamy scents. In fact, the more you nose this wine, the more its complexity becomes apparent. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and a fine line of acidity, ripe and generous yet maintaining outstanding tension and revealing a judicious touch of peppercorns on the finish, which fans out gloriously. This is a fabulous Lafon-Rochet and certainly the best bottle of 2016 that I have encountered. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting.

An explosion of all manner of black berries with discreet, toasty and smoky oak, makes this a joyful St.-Estèphe. Then the great balance of ripeness, lively acidity and velvety tannins come together beautifully at the elegant finish to make this the best wine from this producer in modern times. 

This is vivid, with a mix of steeped red and black currant coulis flavors streaming through, while ample savory, bay leaf, tobacco and warm stone notes course underneath. The elements meld wonderfully on the finish, revealing a tug of savory and earth at the very end. Best from 2023 through 2033.

The 2016 Lafon Rochet is a blend of 25% Merlot, 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot and 6% Cabernet Franc cropped at 46 hectoliters per hectare and matured in 50% new oak. The harvest was between 1 October and 20 October. The alcohol is 13.6%, which is just a little higher here than say Cos d'Estournel or Montrose. It has a very succinct bouquet with blackberry, bilberry and light oyster shell aromas, classic in style, more reserved than I found the 2015 Lafon Rochet last year. The palate is medium-bodied with powerful tannin on the entry, a keen line of acidity (3.65 pH), fine symmetry with a pleasant rondeur on the finish sprinkled with black pepper and tobacco. This is a very fine Lafon Rochet from Basile Tesseron and his team.