1964 Lafleur

The 1964 Lafleur is the biggest surprise. It is a very rare wine, a magnum encountered several years ago was disappointing. Consequently, my expectations were modest, though co-proprietor Baptiste Guinaudeau recently assured that there exist far superior bottles. This was clearly one of those. It has a mercurial bouquet that delivers Indian spice and cardamom aromas at first, later tobacco, Montecristo cigars and a light brine-like influence. After a couple of hours, I notice a whiff of antique furniture and furniture polish. Yes, this is more bucolic than the 1964 Latour-à-Pomerol, yet utterly compelling. Perhaps this bottle is the one that most demonstrates melioration with aeration in the glass, finishing up just a couple of paces behind Petrus. Initially it manifests red fruit, followed by darker, sultrier fruit with time. Then-proprietors Marie and Thérèse Robin conjured a magnificent Lafleur.

The 1964 Lafleur ought to have been a shoo-in for the Robin sisters and yet my solitary encounter with a magnum left me scratching my head and wondering what might have gone awry. It feels slightly green and vegetal and marred by a nagging bitterness underneath those quite brutish tannin. Given the quality of the Right Bank in this year, it is a failure. Tasted at the Attersee vertical and taken from the "Pomerol" book.

Still dark colored with just a slight rim of amber, the 1964 Lafleur is a big, rich, full-bodied, intense wine with oodles of extract and body. Still tannic, but beginning to open up, this old-style, chewy, powerful wine lacks a little in complexity, but delivers quite a mouthful. Anticipated maturity: Now. Last tasted, 6/84.