The finest wine I've tasted from this estate, the 2019 Château La Gaffelière is pure Saint-Emilion brilliance and offers a complex, intense bouquet of red and black fruits, iron, truffly earth, tobacco, and bouquet garni. This carries to a medium to full-bodied, pure, layered, elegant, yet concentrated 2019 with perfect tannins, plenty of mid-palate depth, and a gorgeous finish. It shows the perfumed, elegant, already accessible style of this great vintage (and I thoroughly enjoyed this bottle), but it's going to evolve gracefully over the coming 30 years or more. Bravo!
97 points, Jeb Dunnuck (May 2023)
The 2019 La Gaffeliere is composed of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple colored, it spills from the glass with alluring notions of black raspberries, boysenberry preserves, Morello cherries, and roses, plus suggestions of Ceylon tea, dried mint, and crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is elegantly crafted and refreshing, bursting with bright, lively fruit, finishing long and achingly floral. This is an effortlessly gorgeous Saint-Emilion, not to be missed.
96+ points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent (Apr 2022)
The 2019 La Gaffelière is just as impressive as it was en primeur. Bright and tightly wound, La Gaffelière sizzles with energy. Dark red fruit, mocha, blood orange, mint and dried flowers lend striking aromatic presence. There is some youthful austerity here, but nothing time in bottle won't take care of. The 2019 doesn't quite match the stratospheric grandeur of the magical 2018, but it comes close.
96 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous (Feb 2022)
A vibrant, fragrant red with aromas of blackberries, currants, walnuts and mint chocolate. Medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins. Pretty walnut notes on the polished finish. Fantastic length. Driven acidity and focus. Try in 2025.
96 points, James Suckling (Feb 2022)
The 2019 La Gaffelière wafts from the glass with a rich bouquet of blackberries and cherries mingled with subtle hints of burning embers and loamy soil that's framed by a deft application of creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless, it's a concentrated, vibrant wine built around bright acids and fine, powdery tannins. Its vivid fruit tones and classical balance make this Cabernet Franc-rich blend a promising candidate for sustained bottle age. Anyone who has tasted the great wines this estate produced in the 1950s and 1960s knows how great this site can be; and with stricter selection as well as the elimination of fruit from vines growing on the plain from the blend, that potential appears to be being unleashed at last.
95 points, William Kelley, Wine Advocate (Apr 2022)
A rich and round nose, bursting with ripe fruit aromas. Plump and voluptuous on the palate all while having excellent acidity that really lifts it up, so you have depth but also this real aerial aspect. Tannins are smooth and really well framed and this is super fresh. Delicate yet deep, round yet layered with chalky minerality. Elegant and engaging.
95 points, Georgina Hindle, Decanter (Jan 2022)
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