2000 CHÂTEAU LAFLEUR 2000

(06-2016) Tasted at Justerini & Brooks agency tasting in London. The Château Lafleur 2000 is a monumental wine. Imagine a Harley Davidson thundering down the tarmac. Wouldn't you want to get on? It has an extremely intense, but ineffably pure nose with more mineral expression than the Lafleur 1995. It has loosened up a little since I last tasted it, but I concur with Robert Parker that if I were lucky enough to have some of these in my cellar, I would wait until 2020 to experience the wine at its plateau. Allowing the wine to open over 30 minutes, I notice an almost flinty scent developing on the bouquet. The palate is medium-bodied, crystalline and symmetrical—everything beautifully focused—almost Left Bank in texture. This had a firm backbone, but that is becoming more "flexible" in recent years, and it fans out with consummate ease on a finish that is so long that it makes "War and Peace" seem like a short read. This is simply magnificent. Tasted February 2015.

(05-2018) Excellent depth of blackish ruby. Very intense and captivating on the nose. Lovely already. So complete. Gorgeous blend of freshness and ripeness with some of that bloody-meat right-bank opulence. Really lovely and rewarding. Great to drink now. So refined! Purer than the rich 2005 and 2010.

(09-2007)

(03-2003) A hand-crafted, exciting wine. Solid as rock. Bright aromas of violets, berries, cherries and lilacs. Full-bodied, with a solid core of fruit and superbly refined, silky tannins. Long finish. This is a remake of the superb 1998. Much better than I found it in barrel.

(11-2018) This tastes and feels as if a magnum of wine was somehow placed inside a regular, 750 ml bottle! Intensity, concentration, density, and purity, with an erotic, textural component and a finish that goes well beyond the 60-second mark. This is one of the great wines of the generation.