Château Laroque 2020

Ripe and open-knit, with a modest structure letting damson plum and black cherry purée notes play out easily. Shows subtle tea and cedar hints on the finish. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2030. 11,000 cases made, 1,550 cases imported.

Ripe, juicy and so seductive. This is delicious, a gorgeous texture of just grainy tannins giving the structure and the frame while crushed stone, salty black fruits give the flavour. Edges of liquorice and clove are present giving the sense of oak but they combine to the whole rather than sticking out overtly. A really impressive wine with bite, grip and interest. Youthful and high-toned, this is serious, it's not a wine for the faint hearted, but expertly positioned and presented.

Aromas of sweet berries with herbs, wet earth and moss undertones as well as fresh mushrooms. Medium- to full-bodied with ultra-fine and creamy tannins and a lovely finish. It’s polished and refined. Drink after 2025, but already very pretty.

The 2020 Laroque is even better than the en primeur sample. Dark and enveloping, with tons of class, Laroque is a winner. Succulent dark plum, gravel, spice, menthol, licorice and pipe tobacco give the 2020 tons of nuance. Laroque is class personified. Winemaker David Suire is doing important work here.

Espresso, black cherry, licorice, coffee bean, chocolate and plum liqueur fill the perfume. The wine is rich, opulent, deep and fresh on the palate with layers of lushly textured black plums, chocolate, blueberries and blackberries. Perfectly balanced, hedonistic, concentrated and vibrant, with a long, expansive finish, this is in contention for the best vintage produced at Laroque yet. Drink from 2023-2042.

Dark ruby, purple reflections, subtle brightening on the rim. Delicate wood savouriness, a nuance of liquorice, black forest berries, floral notes, inviting bouquet. Juicy on the palate, ripe red cherries, elegant, vivid, integrated tannins; overall, the wood is still present. Will benefit from further bottle maturation. Shows minerality and freshness with certain ageing potential.

There is such incredible balance to this wine, with deftly expressed black and blue fruits, espresso, liquorice and cocoa bean shavings, all delivered slowly but surely across the palate, held in by sculpted tannins, and a wet-stone texture. This is my biggest upscore from En Primeur — I noted at the time that it was extremely closed, but it is now showing its incredible potential, and is a great value wine. David Suire director, owners Beaumartin family, 61ha of vines.

A blend of 99% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc, the 2020 Laroque is deep garnet-purple in color. A little subdued to begin, offering subtle notes of crushed rocks and damp soil, it opens out to a core of ripe black and red plums and fresh blackberries, plus a fragrant waft of lilacs. The full-bodied palate is bursting with taut, muscular black fruits and amazing tension, framed by ripe, rounded tannins, and finishing with great length and depth.

91-92

The nose evokes a lake, dark and deep, that inexorably draws you to its shores. Sweet, dark, bewitching fruit is lifted by herbal notes. Self-assured, silky, and smooth, with impressive density that arrives on the finish, bringing chew and length to the wine.

Very subtle in its presentation, the bouquet of Laroque displays many facets that it reveals little by little. The attack is precise and slender. It heralds an elegant wine defined by its airy yet structured character. The tannins are exceptionally fine; though energetic, they reveal themselves slowly along the palate, underscoring their relevance on the finish. Such definition in this wine. It undoubtedly needs time—something it clearly signals in the way it unfolds—but it already lays rightful claim to its grandeur. A wine that combines temperament, power, and elegance.

The nose is fruity, finely tight and offers a little concentration as well as a certain fine freshness. It reveals notes of pulpy wild blackcurrant, small black berries and, more lightly, black cherry, combined with fine touches of violet and small red fruits, as well as hints of racy minerality, graphite, and subtle nuances of camphor and toast. The palate is fruity, balanced, finely tight and offers a juicy/tangy backbone, good tannic structure, a lively acidity, a touch of concentration, a lovely grain (limestone/soil), fine smoothness, a hint of freshness and gourmandise. On the palate, this wine expresses notes of pulpy/juicy blackcurrant, pulpy wild black fruits and, more lightly, crushed strawberry, combined with small touches of cherry, small blue fruits, as well as hints of limestone minerality, tonka bean, cardamom, discreet toasted notes and camphor. Good length. The tannins are precise, structuring and racy. Persistent finish with fine hints of cocoa.

Dark, intense color with slight evolution. Very aromatic nose, fine, fruity, subtle, and lightly truffled. Precise from the attack, very aromatic mid-palate, with a long, linear progression and a supple body; the wine stretches out with long, subtle aromas and is a touch strict in its tannins. Very good length. Let it mature.