Chateau Lafleur - Pensees de Lafleur 2020

JAMES SUCKLING: "Aromas of earth, spice and crushed stone with chocolate. Blood and iron. Black truffle. Medium to full body. Very primary fruit with a tightness and focus. Juicy and flavorful. Give it four to five years. Better after 2026."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2020 Pensées de Lafleur unwinds in the glass with deep aromas of cherries, raspberries, crushed mint and black truffle. Full-bodied, layered and velvety, with a broad and enveloping attack that segues into a deep and rather taut mid-palate, it concludes with a long, penetrating finish. As usual, this isn't a second wine, per se: it derives from vines growing in the part of Lafleur's vineyard through which a watercourse once flowed and where the soils are richer in clay and better hydrated, and the Guinadeau family like to refer to it as more stereotypically Pomerolais than Lafleur itself. The 2020's tension and structure, however, mark it out as the most Lafleur-like Pensées of recent years."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Chocolate, plums, violets, espresso, truffle, cigar wrappers, and rose aromas open the aromatic profile. On the palate, the wine is concentrated, savory, rich, plummy, and intense. The sweet, black plums are firm, fresh, and long. There is lift, depth, and super Pomerol character. If you have a bottle or better yet, bottles, feel free to age them. While they are delicious young, they can age 10-20 years. The wine blends 70% Merlot with 30% Cabernet Franc. Drink from 2025-2045."

JEB DUNNUCK: "Checking in as 71% Merlot and 29% Cabernet Franc from more clay soils across the estate vineyard, the 2020 Pensées De Lafleur has a classic Pomerol-like style in its darker blue fruits, iron, damp earth, and leafy herb-driven aromatics. These carry to a medium to full-bodied, tight, closed, yet incredibly promising Pomerol that deserves 5-7 years of bottle age and will keep for at least two decades. It’s easy to think of this cuvée as a second wine, but the reality is that it comes from the same vines every year, and if anything, it's a more classic Pomerol compared to the more singular, exotic Château Lafleur."

DECANTER: "Savoury nose full of chocolate, dark fruits, herbs and menthol spice - deep and dense with sweet violet aromas too. Power and the density, generous, charming and open - fruit forward with dark liquorice, cool blue fruit and clear salinity. I love the hint of juiciness and the liquorice aspect, it’s serious, brooding and layered but at the same time so discrete and so well delivered - polished to perfection. Characterful and intense but so moreish."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Gourmand but elegant at the same time. Rich, full and creamy but not fat, the fruit expressive and tannins finely honed. Dark-fruit aromas with a minty note from the Bouchet (Cabernet Franc). Tannins pull everything together on the finish. Slight warmth on the end. "