Château Lafleur 'Château Grand Village' 2023 Bordeaux Supérieur Rouge

750ml bottle

15% abv

Deep garnet-purple in color. The nose opens with iron ore, black olives, crushed rocks, and fragrant soil, with a core of fresh black plums and boysenberries beneath. Full-bodied on the palate with compelling tension; black fruit flavors carry a load of mineral energy, supported by a grainy texture and finishing long and savory. Separately noted: cassis, blueberries, dark wild berries, flowers, powdery tannins, and a long saline finish. Ripe red cherries, plums, candied orange zest, and liquorice also observed, with round tannins, good freshness, and a persistent mineral character throughout. 

91% Merlot, 9% Bouchet (Cabernet Franc). Higher Merlot proportion than usual in 2023; all of the estate's Cabernet Franc went into the single-vineyard Les Perrières cuvée this vintage.

11 hectares under active production at Château Grand Village in Mouillac, in the Fronsac area of the Right Bank. Clay-limestone soils. Farmed organically. Harvest September 11-20.

Traditional Bordeaux vinification overseen by the Lafleur team, advised by Jean-Claude Berrouet, former cellar master of Pétrus. Élevage in barrel. Bottled with minimal intervention. 

The 2023 Bordeaux vintage was characterized by what winemaker Omri Ram described as an "extreme vintage with no real extremes," challenging conditions in the vineyard that yielded wines of unusual density and freshness without the obvious power signatures of 2019 or 2022. At this price Grand Village has long been considered one of the most honest values in Bordeaux, and the 2023 may be the best version yet at this level.

Château Grand Village is the original family home of Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau, the proprietors of Château Lafleur in Pomerol — one of Bordeaux's most celebrated and expensive wines. The Guinaudeau family has farmed Lafleur since 1985 and has been sole proprietor since 2002. Grand Village, classified as Bordeaux Supérieur, receives the same team, the same winemaking attention, and the same philosophical approach as Lafleur. Baptiste Guinaudeau and his wife Julie are now increasingly at the helm of both properties.