2018 Château La Gaffelière, St Emilion, Bordeaux

2018 Château La Gaffelière, St Emilion, Bordeaux

Product: 20188124315
Prices start from £355.00 per case Buying options
2018 Château La Gaffelière, St Emilion, Bordeaux

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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6 x 75cl bottle
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12 x 37.5cl half bottle
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Description

Alexandre de Malet Roquefort’s family has owned La Gaffelière since 1705. The vineyard is superbly sited by Ausone, with other plots by Pavie and Pavie Macquin, and this potential is beginning to be recognised. The 2018 has fine minerality and perfume, and very sleek tannins. Polished, but not plush, the finish is fine-grained. Drink 2023-2035.

Blend: 58% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Franc

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate94-96/100
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 La Gaffeliere reveals classically sophisticated scents of ripe black plums, warm blackberries and cigar box with touches of star anise, dried Provence herbs, chocolate mint and truffles. Full-bodied, it has a solid backbone of ripe, rounded tannins and lovely freshness lifting the densely layered fruit to a long finish.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown - 23/04/2019 Read more
James Suckling95-96/100
Decanter96/100
You can feel the excitement building around this estate following extensive replanting and refocussing. The frost of 2017 changed the blend a little, and they decided to stick with it as they liked the results so much - meaning they are using less of the vineyard for the grand vin. Whatever they are doing, it works. This has rich creaminess through the mid-palate that balances the austerity and salinity of the limestone terroir, and the brambled autumnal fruit is ripe and very much to the fore. It's a delicious, complex yet pared-back wine with layers of tannin that cradle rather than crush. A brilliant Gaffeliere. I tasted the individual components at the estate a few weeks ago, and it's great to see how they've assembled the final blend. Harvested between 10 September and 9 October. 60% new oak. 3.57pH. IPT 76.
Drinking Window 2027 - 2040

Jane Anson, Decanter 
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Other92-95
Jeb Dunnock Read more

About this WINE

Chateau La Gaffeliere

Chateau La Gaffeliere

Château La Gaffelière is owned by Léo de Malet Roquefort, and the 22 hectare property produces on average 10,000 cases per year. Located in the centre of the St. Emilion appellation, due south of St. Emilion town, the property shares a similar climate to that enjoyed by both St.Emilion and Pomerol: more continental than the maritime Médoc, with generally more spring rainfall, though less in summer and winter.

La Gaffeliere's vineyards (Cabernet Sauvignon 5%, Merlot 65%, Cabernet Franc 30%) lie on a sloped sandy/clay-limestone topsoil and limestone subsoil (a mix of Côtes and Pieds de Côtes). Fermentation takes place in stainless steel followed by extended wood maturation, with 33% of the barells being renewed annually.

La Gaffeliere is classified as a 1er grand cru classé(B).

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St Émilion

St Émilion

St Émilion is one of Bordeaux's largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux's port and market-restricted exports to mainland Europe meant the region initially did not enjoy the commercial success that funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank. 

St Émilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux's wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region's finest vineyards are situated. However, more than half of the appellation's vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel. 

Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north-east of the region on the border with Pomerol.  Atypically for St Émilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Ch. Cheval Blanc.  

In the early 1990s there was an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the garagistes, producers of deeply-concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices.  The appellation is also surrounded by four satellite appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines.

St Émilion was first officially classified in 1954, and is the most meritocratic classification system in Bordeaux, as it is regularly amended. The most recent revision of the classification was in 2012

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Merlot

Merlot

The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.

In St.Emilion and Pomerol it withstands the moist clay rich soils far better than Cabernet grapes, and at it best produces opulently rich, plummy clarets with succulent fruitcake-like nuances. Le Pin, Pétrus and Clinet are examples of hedonistically rich Merlot wines at their very best. It also plays a key supporting role in filling out the middle palate of the Cabernet-dominated wines of the Médoc and Graves.

Merlot is now grown in virtually all wine growing countries and is particularly successful in California, Chile and Northern Italy.

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