LA FLEUR PETRUS 2012

A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2012 La Fleur-Petrus is a stunning Pomerol that’s certainly up in the top tier of the vintage. Incredibly perfumed and floral, with notions of black cherries, raspberries, dried flowers, forest floor, saddle leather, and cedar, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, beautiful balance, ripe tannin, and an ethereal, elegant texture that carries ample flavor authority with no sensation of weight. Drink this incredibly fine, elegant, and nuanced beauty any time over the coming three decades.

Ripe and warm in feel, with an alluring mix of creamy textured cherry, red currant and raspberry reduction notes, mixed with black tea and incense accents. Features a buried spine of graphite, with a hint of Turkish coffee lurking at the very end. (JM)

Bright red. Highly complex, soil-inflected nose hints at ripe dark plum, dried violet, minerals and mint. Silky and supple, with ripe, tactile black fruit and spicy mocha flavors on the palate. Finishes broad and long, with tannins that are firm but not hard and a whiplash of bright red fruit cocktail.

Tasted blind at the Southwold Bordeaux tasting. The 2012 La Fleur Pétrus has a mint-fresh bouquet, vigorous and vivid, with delineated red cherry, raspberry and cassis fruit under which is a strata of wet limestone. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin. This is a more understated Pomerol but there is real nuance here, black truffle and leather tinging the introspective black fruit. Yet behind that is harmony and finesse, notwithstanding impressive length and sustain. It may be slightly over-shadowed by the sensational Trotanoy, but Pomerol-lovers will lap up this fantastic La Fleur-Petrus from the JP Moueix team. Tasted January 2016.