2020 Château La Gaffelière
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Tasting notes
This is an impressive deep purple. It has a lovely bouquet of dried lavender with pepper spice and violets, making for a very uplifting nose. Texturally, the tannins are detailed, layered, almost seamless. The palate is full of mouth-watering fruit, but there’s a restraint to the potential power of this wine. Only medium-bodied, this is a more pulled-back rendition of La Gaffelière. It has a lovely fantail finish, with uplifting florality and a mineral drive. This is elegant Saint-Emilion.
Critic scores
James Suckling
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Deepest crimson. Sweet and perfumed black fruit. Tannins are rather dominant at the moment, adding to the freshness but giving a rather severe finish. (JH)
The 2020 La Gaffelière has a classically styled, tertiary, tobacco-scented bouquet that unfolds in a pleasing fashion. The palate is medium-bodied with lighter tannins than its peers, but it's still nicely balanced and pure. A caressing white pepper- and clove-tinged finish lingers in the mouth. It's very fine, but as I previously noted, this is quite a backward Saint-Émilion, which explains the plus sign and my lower mark than before. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
A worthy follow up to the excellent 2019, the 2020 La Gaffelière bursts with aromas of plums, sweet berries, licorice, mint and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and concentrated, with lively acids and vibrant fruit flavors, it's built around powdery, fine-grained tannins. Cabernet Franc represents fully 40% of the blend. As I wrote last year, this estate, in many respects Saint-Émilion's sleeping giant, is awakening.
About the producer
Bordering both Ausone and Pavie, this property has been owned by the De Malet Roquefort line for over 300 years – making them the oldest winegrowing family in Saint-Emilion.