| Region of Production: | Pomerol AOP |
| Winery Location: | Pomerol |
| Year Established: | 1872 |
| Classification: | None |
Vineyard Holdings
4.5 ha
- 50% Merlot
- 50% Cabernet Franc
Top Wines Produced & Inaugural Vintages
- Château Lafleur, Pomerol: Grand vin. 54% Cabernet Franc, 46% Merlot (2015 vintage). Fermented in small concrete vats. Aged for 15 months in 25% new barrels.
- Les Pensées de Lafleur, Pomerol: Second wine. Harvested from the deep gravelly-clay sand soils at the center of the vineyard. Fermented in small concrete vats. Aged for 15 months in 25% new barrels.
Average Total Production
- 18,000 bottles
Summary
Château Lafleur is regarded by many as the biggest challenger to Pétrus as the greatest wine of Pomerol, with prices that match. While vineyards were cultivated here earlier in the 19th century, Lafleur’s contemporary history began in 1872, when the property was purchased by Henri Greloud, who owned the adjacent Le Gay. Two decades later, the wine Greloud made there had attracted documented recognition, considered only inferior to Pétrus and Vieux Château Certan in Pomerol. Lafleur remains in the control of Greloud’s descendants today. His son Charles inherited the estate in 1900, before selling it along with Château Le Gay to his cousin André Robin 15 years later. After World War II, André’s daughters Marie and Thérèse took over the estate. The two sisters enacted little change to the estate over the ensuing decades. In the 1980s, they hired Christian Moueix and Jean-Claude Berrouet to oversee production, the duo bringing significant acclaim with the 1982 and 1983 vintages. Upon Thérèse’s passing in 1984, Marie leased the property to her second cousins Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau. The Guinaudeaus fully acquired the property in 2001, after Marie’s death, and run Lafleur today.
Style & Vinification Techniques
Located within the Pomerol plateau, Lafleur occupies a nearly square-shaped block of vines. The vineyard is sub-divided into four sectors: the brown gravel-coated hill to the northwest, gravelly-clay with sandy gravel topsoil to the south, the sandy clay section to the east near Pétrus, and the deeper soils at the center of the vineyard. Château Lafleur is notable for its unusually high percentage of Cabernet Franc, constituting roughly half of the cuvée and defining much of Lafleur’s character. Sorting occurs both in the vineyard and at the winery, and a three-week maceration and fermentation takes place in small concrete vats. The wines are then moved to barrel, one-quarter to one-third new and the rest used. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barriques, and the wines age 15 months prior to bottling.
Producer Website: Château Lafleur