TN: 96 Lafon Rochet [St Estephe]

[AKR]

96 Lafon Rochet [St Estephe] Purchased at release, double decanted (it needed it as it was well sedimented) and served over two days at cool temperatures. Dark ruby/purplish hue, no bricking at the edges despite the age. Complex bouquet - cedar, coffee, forest. Great palate still showing lots of grip, but well balanced with black fruit and balanced acidity. 13% abv on the label but feels full bodied. It's an earthy food wine, especially given the tannin, which have mellowed somewhat compared to its youth, but are still muscular. This is a nice enough wine that it deserves the good stems, a proper decanter, and a few hours to aerate; it's a Saturday night wine even if one has a deep cellar. My instinct is that this will stay at this level for another decade easy. I might have liked it better on the first day, but that's likely only because it was at optimal temperatures. Just a tremendous example of why patience with Bordeaux is rewarded. This gets a solid A.

PS: poolside quaffing was a 00 Tardieu Laurent [Gigondas] which gets a C- Others, inexplicably, liked it. There is too much oak relative to the fruit in their wines.

[Blanquito]

My favorite vintage of Lafon Rochet.

[Comte Flaneur]

Nice note Arv solid wine

[Roel]

The '95 I had last week also was a beautiful St. Estèphe, still muscular and showing no signs of fading away.

[JimHow]

The 2003 Lafon Rochet I had at the Dallas convention a couple years ago was one of my wines of the weekend.
I have a case each of the 2003 and 2004.