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Talk about a unicorn, 1964 Lafleur certainly fits that bill. Purchased from the original owner, this is simply off the hook! The nose hits you with tobacco, herbs, flowers, truffles, dusty cocoa, dried mint leaf, and bright, red plums. There is a depth of flavor that keeps coming. There is intensity, a wealth of flavor, and sensations with an exotic spin that is clearly not found in any other wine. This is a wine I hope to see again. Drink from 2024-2034.
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The 1964 Lafleur is the biggest surprise. It is a very rare wine, a magnum encountered several years ago was disappointing. Consequently, my expectations were modest, though co-proprietor Baptiste Guinaudeau recently assured that there exist far superior bottles. This was clearly one of those. It has a mercurial bouquet that delivers Indian spice and cardamom aromas at first, later tobacco, Montecristo cigars and a light brine-like influence. After a couple of hours, I notice a whiff of antique furniture and furniture polish. Yes, this is more bucolic than the 1964 Latour-à-Pomerol, yet utterly compelling. Perhaps this bottle is the one that most demonstrates melioration with aeration in the glass, finishing up just a couple of paces behind Petrus. Initially it manifests red fruit, followed by darker, sultrier fruit with time. Then-proprietors Marie and Thérèse Robin conjured a magnificent Lafleur.
The 1964 Lafleur ought to have been a shoo-in for the Robin sisters and yet my solitary encounter with a magnum left me scratching my head and wondering what might have gone awry. It feels slightly green and vegetal and marred by a nagging bitterness underneath those quite brutish tannin. Given the quality of the Right Bank in this year, it is a failure. Tasted at the Attersee vertical and taken from the "Pomerol" book.
Still dark colored with just a slight rim of amber, the 1964 Lafleur is a big, rich, full-bodied, intense wine with oodles of extract and body. Still tannic, but beginning to open up, this old-style, chewy, powerful wine lacks a little in complexity, but delivers quite a mouthful. Anticipated maturity: Now. Last tasted, 6/84.
About the producer
The Société Civile du Ch. Lafleur is the collective name for the Guinaudeau family’s wines and estates. These are some of the Right Bank’s most famous wines, including Ch. Lafleur and Les Pensées in Pomerol, along with Les Perrières, Les Champs Libres and Ch. Grand Village in Fronsac.