2018 Les Champs Libres
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2018 Les Champs Libres is more backward than the 2017, deprived the same delineation and mineralité by that summer's warmth. The palate is better with welcome flintiness on the entry, more energy and generosity coming through. A peppery touch on the close ensures this finishes on a high. Tasted from ex-château magnum at Kate & Kon's 40-Year vertical in Austria.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Based on Sancerre plant material selected by the Guinaudeaus. Served blind. Lots of acidity and a whiff of oak. Amazingly youthful for a 2018, and not at all like a typical Bordeaux Blanc (in which case it was a fine match for the atypical Marlborough Sauvignon from Churton served alongside). This seems to be ageing at a snail's pace. I suggested drinking it pretty soon when I tasted it in 2022. (JR)
Wet wool on the nose. Lots of grip and acidity. One of the fresher 2018 dry white bordeaux. More Sauvignon than some. Ambitious and distinctive. Right bank! Well done. (JR)
The 2018 Les Champs Libres, matured in Burgundy barrels on the fine lees, offers crisp apple blossom, Conference pear and light candle wax scents on a nose that gradually opens with aeration. The palate is lightly spiced on the entry, with Granny Smith apples, peach skin and quite a saline, almost Loire-like finish that feels very persistent. Excellent.
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.