The 2022 Lafon-Rochet is pure class. Silky, aromatic and gracious, Lafon-Rochet is quite possibly the most under-the-radar Saint-Estèphe. Bright blue/purplish fruit, lavender, sage, mint and spice are all beautifully delineated. A wine of sublime elegance and class, Lafon-Rochet is exquisite in 2022. -- Antonio Galloni

Silky smooth with excellent freshness, firm fleshy tannins and a minty, liquorice-tinged freshness throughout. Tannins are fine and supportive and give this a broad mouthfeel while keeping direction and forward motion. Sophisticated with plenty of layers of flavour while keeping a classic touch despite the tough vintage conditions. Still a little shy, give this a few years, but great potential for future enjoyment. Strength and succulence. Brilliant.

Rocking notes of currants, leafy tobacco, cassis, graphite, and crushed stone nuances all emerge from the 2022 Château Lafon-Rochet, a seriously good, concentrated, powerful expression from this château that has beautiful purity, ripe, building, yet substantial tannins, and a great finish. It's going to need some time, but this is brilliant.

This is gorgeous from start to finish. Supple, lush, and creamy, the wine is full-bodied, intense, long, and complex. The layers of fruit, with their length, and purity make a statement on your palate. This is one of those wines that one sniff, and sip, is not enough. You will need to try it again for the pleasure. The finish offers, length, and lift, which is the perfect backdrop for all the polished, blackberries, black cherries, chocolate, and spice. The wine blends 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc. This is the first vintage with the new owner, Jackie Lorenzetti, and the team of Emmanuel Cruse fully in charge. They're off to a great start as this is without a doubt, the best vintage of Lafon Rochet ever produced! Drink from 2028-2050.95 Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/search-wine-tasting-notes/?szSearch=2022%20Lafon%20Rochet

Deep and ripe but still very demure on the nose, with dark chocolate, cigar box, blackcurrants, white pepper and a touch of graphite. Very juicy and nicely chewy on the palate, with a full body and a tight, lengthy finish. This won’t be approachable until 2029. - Zekun Shuai

New team under ex-Lafite winemaker Christophe Congé (who will be heading to sibling estate Pédéslaux for the 2025 vintage), there is plenty happening at Lafon Rochet, and this is intense enjoyable, well put together, slight rustic tannins on the finish that emphasise their edges a little more than during En Primeur, but this seems set for the long haul, and is balanced by plentiful black fruits. 50% new oak for ageing, 60% 1st wine, down from 70% in 2021, as the new team focuses heavily on quality.

This is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc, and the élevage was in 40% new oak, 40% second-fill and 20% third-fill barrels. A nose of sweet and dark fruits, with smoky dark red cherry laced with tobacco and toast. This dark and sweet character translates onto the palate as a supple, creamed and velvety, with a beautifully polished outer surface, within which there is a wealth of savoury black fruits, salted olives and currants, black cherries and damsons, which are set within a harmonious texture draped over a firm and yet beautifully knit bed of tannins. With little juicy edges giving it lift, and a firm peppery structure, the pure and defined tannins lingering long in the finish, with spicy grip, this is a strong vintage for Lafon-Rochet. A fine result, but I feel there is room for improvement here, I wonder if the new direction under Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen will bring more impressive results. I hope and expect so. Tasted twice. The alcohol on the label is 14.5%.

The 2022 Lafon-Rochet is a rich, ripe, somewhat Napa-styled Saint-Estèphe, offering up aromas of sweet jammy berries, fig preserve, licorice and creamy new oak, followed by a full-bodied, soft and fat palate. Readers who gravitate toward this style of wine will love it. - William Kelley