Buying options
Tasting Notes
Quality at this estate continues to rise and David Suire has crafted a superb 2020. Despite being a blend of 99% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc, this wine has real freshness and an herbaceous edge to it. The nose is scented and enticing with aromas of Darjeeling tea, ripe plummy fruit and a fresher more redcurrant note. It’s a tight little wine at present, with a compacted palate full of promise and fine-grained tannins. There’s a lovely iron-like earthiness and long, saline finish.
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Dark garnet in color with purple edges, the wine is lush, rich and concentrated. Opulent in texture, with layers of velvety, red, black and blue fruits, crushed rocks, chocolate and licorice, there is a gorgeous sense of purity, richness, length and freshness here. The wine shows elegance and refinement as well as layers of fruit on the palate and in the finish.
Plenty of sappy, well defined juice running underneath the moody tannic frame, but you need to look away right now because this is closed and subdued. Blueberry purée and a limestone scrape helps build momentum through the mid-palate - give this time. David Suire manages the winemaking.
The 2020 Laroque is a blend of 99% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc, aging for around 16 to 18 months in French oak barrels, 50% new. The alcohol is 14.5%. Displaying a deep purple-black color, it slowly unfurls in the glass to reveal fantastically opulent notes of Indian spices, rose oil, dark chocolate and licorice, over a core of blueberry preserves, stewed plums and mulberries, plus a hint of dried mint. The medium to full-bodied palate is packed with layers of black and blue fruits, accented by exotic spices and supported by a racy backbone and velvety tannins, finishing long and perfumed. Gorgeous.
Related articles
About the producer
Ch. Laroque is a Saint-Emilion fine wine estate which takes its name from the plateau of limestone rock on which it sits.