2017 Château Lafon-Rochet

93 POINTS

Roger Voss - Wine Enthusiast

Packed with smoky tannins and crisp fruit, this is a firm and structured wine. With attractive acidity as well as a woody flavor, it will develop steadily over the medium term. Drink from 2023.

93 POINTS

Jane Anson - Decanter

This is a lovely St-Estèphe this year, firm and bright with bristling fruit right out of the gate - hugely unusual to see that this year. This is one of my favourites, and is totally charming with its cassis and damson fruit, but it's the juice and friendly tension that sets it apart. Silky and enjoyable. Buy. Drinking Window 2025 - 2040

93 POINTS

Jacques Perrin - Vinifera

La bouche parle avec un surcroît de finesse, de chair et une élégance dans le tanin à citer en exemple. Sensiblement vineux pour l’année, dense, très prometteur.

92 POINTS

Neal Martin - Vinous

The 2017 Lafon-Rochet has matured in 50% new oak and the remainder in one-year old. I have to say, the bouquet is very expressive with plenty of blackberry, wild hedgerow, oyster shell and pressed flower that blossom in the glass. It is very well defined and more sophisticated than I have detected in recent vintages. Perhaps this is the first vintage where the new winery, replete with concrete vats, has really played a serious role in meliorating quality. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, quite saline in the mouth with just a hint of black olive. There is a slightly grainy texture with a sustained peppery finish, completing a crisp and vivacious Lafon-Rochet that should please many wine-lovers. Expect this to land at the top of my banded score.

92 POINTS

Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

The 2017 Lafon-Rochet has really come together nicely since I tasted it in barrel. Deep, rich and yet also vibrant, the 2017 has so much to offer. In 2017, Lafon-Rochet is a wine of precision and class. What it lacks in overt body, it has in persistence and that most elusive quality in wine - personality. I don't expect the 2017 to be especially long-lived, but it will offer fine drinking over the next decade or so.

91 POINTS

Jeff Leve - The Wine Cellar Insider

Dark, spicy and soft textured, there is fresh blackberry and cassis with accents of licorice and espresso. The wine is medium bodied and bright, leaving you with an earthy, red berry finish.

91 POINTS

James Suckling

Aromas of smoke and tobacco with some currants, too. Medium body. Chewy tannins and an herb and berry aftertaste. Shows attractive fruit drive at the end. Drink in 2021.

James Molesworth - Wine Spectator

Prominent savory and tobacco notes lead to the core of crunchy pomegranate and black cherry fruit, with a lightly brisk finish.—J.M.