The history of Chateau Lafon-Rochet dated back to the 16th century, when it was under the ownership of Janot Bernard de Leyssac, a wealthy merchant. Janot later bequeathed the estate to his daughter Francoise, who in turn passed to her children, with one part referred to as Rochet because of the rocky soils. This was passed to her daughter Adrianne de Lahaye.
Adrianne was later married to Charles de Guillamotes, and this portion of the estate was passed to Etienne de Lafon, who married Charles’ daughter Antoninette, forming the current name Lafon-Rochet.
When Antonine died, a legal dispute on the land ensued, ending with Etienne getting a plot which is the Lafon-Rochet of today. Etienne then appointed a manager named Pierre Delage to run the estate while he resided in Bordeaux.
Etienne re-married again and his son Pierre inherited the property in 1720, and subsequently passed to his son Jean. Jean’s brothers decided to divide the estate later. The major part where the chateau and outbuildings were located, came to Joseph and Arnaud, with Arnaud ceding his part to Joseph later, who became the owner of Lafon-Rochet during the early 19th century.
Joseph passed the estate to his wife Anne Paignon, who later passed her entire estates, including Lafon-Rochet, to her children, with the vineyard of Lafon-Rochet going to Louis Arnaud. Louis Arnaud reestablished the vineyards and was so successful in the marketplace that the property earned the fourth growth status in the 1855 classification. The estate was later passed to his son Pierre Alcide.
Because Pierre Alcide got no interest in wine, his mother then bequeathed the estate to her granddaughter Lucie, who brought the estate to even higher level but unfortunately the phylloxera and oidium problems forced her to sell the property in 1895.
The new owner was Frederic Audon, who later sold the property to Marcel Richard and his wife Catherine Marguerite Eyssand, before again selling to Elie and Berthe Nafrechoux, and two years later to Charles Louis Duquenoy-Legry. With the wars and economic depression the estate fell into hard times, without any investment, until the estate was purchased by the current owner the Tesseron family, who specialized in the production and selling of cognac.
Guy Tesseron decided to move to wine business after some setback in the cognac industry, and his marriage to Nicole Cruse, prompted him to acquire Lafon-Rochet. Guy decided to tear down the buildings to re-construct a new one under the 18th-century style.
In 1975 Guy acquired Pontet-Canet, and both estates then passed to the next generation, to Michel Tesseron, who had worked in other chateaux before returning to the family business in 1987. Michel decided to paint the buildings in yellow in 2000, and now it is in charge by his son Basile, taking over in the difficult time right after the 2007 harvest.
The vineyard is now three times the size, with 45 hectares of vines, of which 40 ha is surrounding the chateau, and the remaining in a plot to the north. The vineyard around the chateau is shared with the vines of Cos d’Estournel and Cos Labory, with average age of vine being 40 years, planting on gravel soils with a mix of quartz, flint, volcanic lydianite, sand and clay over a calcareous bedrock, as well as another plot of gravel over clay.
The vines are 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, planted at 9200 vines per hectare, and using double Guyot pruning. Harvest by hand, with two sorting before fermentation in stainless steel vats with temperature control, and pumping over is practiced.
The wine is macerated for up to two weeks, before putting into oak barrels for malolactic, before ageing in 50% new oak for up to 20 months. The wine is fined using light filtration, with the grand vin Chateau Lafon-Rochet taking 60-70% of the production. A second wine known as Pelerins de Lafon-Rochet is produced, mainly from grapes of the lower slopes and the 5 ha plot in the north. A little known rose named Roset is made by pressurage direct rather than the saignee method. It offers good value for money, a firm style typical of St-Estephe.
I have recently tasted the 2004 vintage and below is my tasting note:
Appearance
Bright and clear, it is of deep intensity ruby color, with legs.
Nose
Clean, with medium (+) intensity aromas showing ripe black fruit of blackcurrants and blackberry, maturity notes of savory, sweet tobacco, oak notes of smoke and cedar, pungent spice of liquorice, sweet spice of cinnamon, kernel notes of chocolate. The wine is developing.
Palate
Dry with medium acidity, medium (+) tannin of ripe but a bit grippy on texture, the wine is of medium alcohol, with a medium (+) body, and showing medium intensity flavors of black fruit such as blackcurrant and blackberry, herbaceous notes of blackcurrant leaf, pungent spice of liquorice, oak notes of toast. The wine has a medium finish.
Conclusion
Good quality St-Estephe with a fairly intense nose of good complexity, the wine has a good structure though the tannin is a bit grippy for my liking. The palate is reasonably concentrated and complex, though there is a clear herbaceous notes which is not apparent on the nose. With a reasonable finish, it is ready to drink now but can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.
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