A smoking 2023 that highlights the complexity and nuances of this château, the 2023 Château Lafleur offers redcurrants, assorted red fruits, spicy herbs, smoky tobacco, cassis, and flowers on the nose. Based on 54% Cabernet Franc and 46% Merlot and aged 15 months in barrel (25% new and 75% once-used), it's medium to full-bodied and has a gorgeously layered, seamless mouthfeel, incredible purity, and outstanding length. The supple, layered character here is truly gorgeous, and it's clearly one of the top handful of wines in the vintage, as well as a perfect wine. Drink 2030-2060. - Jeb Dunnuck

The 2023 Lafleur is just as compelling in bottle as it was in cask. Deep, complex and resonant, it unwinds in the glass to reveal notes of cherries, raspberry liqueur, iris, violets and mint. Full-bodied, supple and velvety, with a suave attack that segues into an enveloping, vibrant, mouth-filling mid-palate, it exhibits breathtaking purity and harmony.

(TWI 98-100 points) A blend of 54% Bouchet (Cabernet Franc) and 46% Merlot, the 2023 Lafleur has a deep garnet-purple color. It slowly unfurls with very pure scents of wild blueberries and violets, opening out to notes of boysenberry preserves, licorice, rose bud tea, sassafras, and fragrant earth. The medium to full-bodied palate is deceptively ethereal, yet amazingly dense, with super-fine, pixilated tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long and fragrant. Wow! - Lisa Perrotti-Brown

A blend of 54% Bouchet (Cabernet Franc) and 46% Merlot, the 2023 Lafleur has a deep garnet‑purple color. It takes its time to slowly reveal a beguiling perfume of juicy blueberries, redcurrant preserves, rose oil, and licorice, followed by nuances of fragrant earth, garrigue, and mossy tree bark with a touch of black truffles. The medium‑ to full‑bodied palate is so finely knit, with incredible poise and energy, delivering layers of perfumed blue and red fruit flavors supported by exquisitely ripe, fine‑grained tannins and superb tension, finishing very long and graceful. Spectacular.

A stunning, nervy nose, showing chalky berries, eggshells, ripe plums and a touch of gin botanicals and cocoa powder. Medium- to full-bodied and precise, with superfine, fresh, close-knit tannins. Really long and integrated. A blend of 54% bouchet (cabernet franc) and 46% merlot. Drink or hold. Zekun Shuai Senior Editor

(97-99 points) Plums, black raspberries, flowers, boysenberries, tobacco, and truffles create the nose. On the palate, the wine pops with its layers of bright, sweet, ripe, and energetic red fruits, cigar wrapper, and chewy black cherries. This is a classic vintage of Lafleur which exchanges its opulence, and power for lift, refinement, concentration, length, and complexity. The wine requires at least a decade, or even more time in the bottle before it is ready, and enjoyable to drink. The estate calls their 2023 a wine from an extreme vintage, without any extremes. The wine blends 54% Cabernet Franc, and 46% Merlot. 14.2% ABV, 3.75 pH. Harvesting took place for the Merlot September 7, 8, Cabernet Franc was harvested September 17. Drink from 2030-2065. 97-99 Pts.

Iris and violet flowers greet you on the opening beats, and it's a little more open at this early stage than is sometimes the case with this most profound of wines. Combines deep and creamy cassis and blueberry fruits with pumice-scraping tannins, vibrant and humming through the palate. There are, as ever, hidden depths here that show through the cocoa bean and espresso as it opens up, and this still needs a good 8 to 10 years before reaching its peak. 25% new oak for ageing.

The 2023 Lafleur has exquisite delineation on the nose, very precise with blackberry and bilberry fruit undergirded by tangible crushed limestone scents. A kind of "cool" aromatics profile, no need to showboat at all. The palate is medium-bodied, is supremely well-balanced with gentle but insistent grip. There is a bewitching symmetry in this Lafleur, a dash of black pepper toward the finish that lingers very long in the mouth, one of the longest that you will find in the vintage. Outstanding. - By Neal Martin on February 2026

Dark ripe fruits and some savoury touches of tobacco, dark chocolate and clove with wet stones. Violets and irises come in after a few minutes. Nice depth and weight straight away, this has concentration but nothing overdone. Lots of freshness and zing, it’s finessed for sure and it’s impactful in terms of brightness and flavour, but it doesn’t have so much outward fleshy charm that it can have. It’s linear and straight with a slow expansion of elements that comes after a few minutes. Well crafted and long, this stays with you. Beautifully constructed for the vintage but not the most demonstrate which is quite usual for Lafleur. However, this has refinement and is a really ‘classic’ example. High acidity, bite and tang. It’s missing a touch of star power right now but there’s no doubt of careful sculpting and enjoyable bite.