2012 Château Lafon-Rochet, St Estèphe, Bordeaux

2012 Château Lafon-Rochet, St Estèphe, Bordeaux

Product: 20128007010
 
2012 Château Lafon-Rochet, St Estèphe, Bordeaux

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Description

The opaque purple-hued 2012 Lafon Rochet reveals plenty of incense, blueberry, black raspberry and spring flower notes intermixed with a hint of forest floor. Rich and medium to full-bodied, it is a complete wine from beginning to end. It may tighten up once it’s in bottle, but this wine has 15 or more years of cellaring potential.

This superb effort is a major sleeper of the vintage. Made from a final blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, it boasts 13.5% natural alcohol and was made by Basile Tesseron, whose family owns this chateau as well as the well-known Pontet Canet. Like his uncle Alfred, Basile has moved to biodynamic farming.
Robert Parker - Wine Advocate #206 - Apr 2013

wine at a glance

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate90-92/100
The opaque purple-hued 2012 Lafon Rochet reveals plenty of incense, blueberry, black raspberry and spring flower notes intermixed with a hint of forest floor. Rich and medium to full-bodied, it is a complete wine from beginning to end. It may tighten up once it’s in bottle, but this wine has 15 or more years of cellaring potential.

This superb effort is a major sleeper of the vintage. Made from a final blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, it boasts 13.5% natural alcohol and was made by Basile Tesseron, whose family owns this chateau as well as the well-known Pontet Canet. Like his uncle Alfred, Basile has moved to biodynamic farming.
Robert Parker - Wine Advocate #206 - Apr 2013 Read more
Robert Parker90-92/100
The opaque purple-hued 2012 Lafon Rochet reveals plenty of incense, blueberry, black raspberry and spring flower notes intermixed with a hint of forest floor. Rich and medium to full-bodied, it is a complete wine from beginning to end. It may tighten up once it’s in bottle, but this wine has 15 or more years of cellaring potential.

This superb effort is a major sleeper of the vintage. Made from a final blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, it boasts 13.5% natural alcohol and was made by Basile Tesseron, whose family owns this chateau as well as the well-known Pontet Canet. Like his uncle Alfred, Basile has moved to biodynamic farming.
Robert Parker - Wine Advocate #206 - Apr 2013 Read more
Decanter17/20
Ripe and well-extracted meaty, typically St Estephe volume of fruit, good spice, good character and good future. Read more

About this WINE

Chateau Lafon-Rochet

Chateau Lafon-Rochet

Château Lafon-Rochet is a 4ème Cru Classé St-Estèphe estate that has been owned by the Tesseron family since 1959. The property had been neglected and Guy Tesseron extensively replanted, as well as building a completely new château in "chartreuse" style. Today Lafon-Rochet is run by Albert and Michel Tesseron.

Lafon-Rochet's vineyards (Cabernet Sauvignon 56%, Merlot 40%, Cabernet Franc 4%) lie on clay-gravel soils and are superbly sited in the south of the commune opposite Château Lafite. The wines are matured in oak barriques (40% new) for 18 months.

Lafon-Rochet's wines were, for many years, criticised for being excessively tannic and austere and generally were considered to lack charm. In the last decade or so, improved viticultural techniques and a greater percentage of Merlot in the final blend has led to purer expressions of fruit and the wines being generally more supple and elegant. Lafon-Rochet needs at least 10 years of bottle ageing to show at its best.

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Saint-Estèphe

Saint-Estèphe

Saint-Estèphe is the northernmost of the most important communes of the Médoc and borders Pauillac on its southernmost border, with only a gully and stream separates it from Ch. Lafite. To the north lies the Bas-Médoc.

Saint-Estèphe is defined by the depth of its gravel, which is ubiquitous but of varying depths and occasionally very shallow, when clay predominates. This keeps the soil cooler and wetter than its counterparts so that the wines can appear fresh in lighter vintages, but superbly successful in hot, dry years. 

The best châteaux in the south of the commune have the deepest soil and the thickest gravel. Cos d'Estournel has an exceptional terroir with its vineyards being located on a south-facing ridge of gravel with excellent drainage. 

Saint-Estèphe is the least gravelly of main Médoc communes and in the north of the commune the vineyards are heavier and more clay-based leading to a rustic style of wine being produced.

The wines can appear austere in youth with a discernable ferric note at some châteaux, but the best typically display good depth of colour, pronounced acidity an tannins in youth and are exceptionally long-lived. At their best, they are the equal of almost any Bordeaux. The well-regarded St Estèphe co-operative controls the production of about half the appellation.

Recommended Châteaux
Cos (Ch. Cos d'Estournel), Ch. Montrose, Ch. Calon-Ségur, Ch. Lafon-Rochet, Ch. Les Ormes de Pez, Ch. Beau-Site, Ch. Cos Labory, Ch. Phélan-Ségur

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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