The yellow label of the Château Lafon-Rochet may not be the most fashionable of all label colours today, but it has a real background: the chateau's facade is painted in the same colour. For many years, this winery in Saint-Estèphe belonged to the Tesseron family, who made Chateau Pontet-Canet one of the great wines in Bordeaux. Lafon-Rochet is significantly cheaper, but also benefited from the outstanding winemaking by the Tesserons. Therefore, it is always a first-class value. In 2021 Lafon-Rochet was sold to Jacky Lorenzetti who seems to be maintaining the high quality.
The vineyard is planted with 48% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Merlot, plus 3.5% Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. The average age of the vines is around 40 years, but the Grand Vin benefits from some plots that have vines up to 80 years old, which give depth and power.
The outstanding vintage 2020 was the last one harvested and fermented by the Tesseron family and certainly one of the best ever. With an incredible 95/100, The Wine Cellar Insider gives it the best rating of all vintages tasted up to that point, the magazine Decanter is not far behind with two independent tasters (Andy Howard Master of Wine & Panos Kakaviatos) both rated it 94/100, Bordeaux expert Antonio Galloni from Vinous.com is even at 96/100.
With the 2020 Chateau Lafon-Rochet we are undoubtedly having with a giant wine from Saint-Estèphe, for whom the price of mid-40 euros is actually a bargain.
