Chateau la Gaffeliere 2020

James Suckling: "Deep and intense notes of plums and blackberries with dark chocolate, toasted spices, walnut, crushed graphite and wet stones. Full-bodied with layers of ripe, velvety tannins that flow in a firm stream throughout the palate. Very structured. Delicious chocolate-wrapped black and blue fruit with spiced character and a really long finish. 60% merlot and 40% cabernet franc. Drink from 2028."

Wine Enthusiast: "This wine's ripe tannins and fine perfumes come from the 40% Cabernet Franc in the blend. The structure is powerful even if masked by the generous black fruits. The wine has great potential. Drink from 2027."

The Wine Advocate: "A worthy follow up to the excellent 2019, the 2020 La Gaffelière bursts with aromas of plums, sweet berries, licorice, mint and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and concentrated, with lively acids and vibrant fruit flavors, it's built around powdery, fine-grained tannins. Cabernet Franc represents fully 40% of the blend. As I wrote last year, this estate, in many respects Saint-Émilion's sleeping giant, is awakening."

Decanter: "An run of successful vintages at La Gaffeliere, and this again proves why it is an estate to watch, striking an expert balance between power and finesse. Offers a ton of cassis, blackberry, black cherry and damson fruits, licorice root and crushed stone, just gorgeously juicy and stretches out across the palate. Austere tannins at this point, plenty of limestone character, a little tight on the finish but with a velvet texture and promises to age with grace. A yield of 42hl/ha."

Falstaff: "Wildpflaume im Duft, Schokolade, intensiv kräutrig, Kräuterbitter, etwas Wachs. Schwarzer Pfeffer. Auch floral: Iris. Ein stattlicher Bau am Gaumen. Körnig, fleischig, ausgesprochen gut extrahiert, reiche Materie, eine Prise Grüntöne erhöht die Spannung, ohne die Harmonie zu stören, gut integrierter Alkohol, mazerationsfruchtiger, tabakiger Nachall. Ein ziemlicher Klotz, aber mit einer Aromenbegleitung guter Frische – und mit sehr guter Perspektive."

Wine Spectator: "Ripe, fresh and expressive, with beautiful mulberry, boysenberry and blackberry puree notes that work well with light sanguine, black tea and singed apple wood details throughout. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2029 through 2040. 5,500 cases made, 750 cases imported."

Jeb Dunnuck: "The 2020 Château La Gaffelière checks in as a 60/40 split of Merlot and Cabernet Franc that saw 50% new barrels. This medium to full-bodied, pure, elegant, seamless Saint-Emilion has lots of cassis and darker raspberry-like fruits, good mid-palate depth, ripe tannins, and solid complexity in its notes of graphite, sandalwood, and Asian spices. It doesn't bring the depth and richness of the top wines in the vintage, but it certainly shines for its complexity and balance."

Jancis Robinson: "Very dark with garnet rim. Dark, savoury power with restrained but intense black fruit and just a hint of Cab Franc leafiness. Dry finesse in a relatively powerful wine. Long and refined. Fresh, too. Not yet trying to please but it does."

Weinwisser: "Verspieltes rotbeeriges Bouquet, Himbeermark, getrockneter Thymian und helles Graphit. Am mittleren Gaumen mit weicher Textur, stützender Rasse, reifem Extrakt und sehnigem Körper. Im gebündelten Finale finden sich Schattenmorelle und Wacholder."