2016 Les Champs Libres
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Les Champs Libres has a surprisingly pale colour. The reduction that I noted in 2018 seems to have lodged into this Les Champs Libres and occludes the fruit profile. This translates onto the palate where, again, the reduction seems fixed. Julie Guinaudeau agrees, remarking how tricky it is to gauge the optimal level of SO2 during vinification. If you like a lot of reduction, the 2016 is for you, though the 2017 surpasses it in this tasting. Tasted from ex-château magnum at Kate & Kon's 40-Year vertical in Austria.
Critic scores
James Suckling
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Very strong matchstick nose. Champs Libres? Dry and tense and racy. Rather unbordelais but fun. (JR)
Very mineral and Sancerre-like. Struck-match rather obvious! But fun. And certainly ambitious. (JR)
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.