1988 Lafleur, Pomerol

It is funny, but I do not drink Château Lafleur today with anywhere near the frequency I did thirty years ago, as the wine has just gotten so expensive that I cross paths with it much less often and my own cellar is depleted of the bottles it once had. So, to have the opportunity to drink the 1988 Lafleur on two occasions less than a year apart is quite out of the norm these days. I thoroughly enjoyed the bottle I had last summer, but this most recent bottle was in even better form and utterly stunning on both the nose and palate. Clearly last summer’s bottle was not quite as open as this one. The brilliant bouquet showed those shadings of exotica that Lafleur in this era was so well known for, as it offers up scents of black plums, black raspberries, a touch of fruitcake, smoked meats, exotic spice tones, an excellent base of dark soil, distant bonfire, cigar ash and a bit of toasty oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and complex, with great soil inflection and grip, a rock solid core of fruit, still some buried tannins and superb focus and balance on the long, complex and stunning finish. Christian Moueix’s team had taken over the winemaking here at Lafleur with the 1985 vintage, so the 1988 is not quite as wild as the wines used to be when made by the Robin sisters from 1983 back, but there is more of this Lafleur “wildness” in evidence on the 1988 than in, for example, the more polished 1985.

The 1988 Lafleur is a vintage that I have not encountered for a while. It has a typical '88 nose, a bit austere (especially when directly juxtaposed with the ensuing two vintages), arguably conservative and not wishing to put a foot wrong. Light black fruit, antique bureau, freshly rolled tobacco and hints of pine emerge. The palate is medium-bodied and quite elegant in style, with fine balance and subtle spicy scents that surface with time. There is something mellow about this Lafleur that is very appealing, and it develops wonderful precision on the finish. Just a lovely wine. (NM)