The 1995 Lafon-Rochet is quite backward on the nose with rather sultry black fruit, sous-bois and light cigar box scents. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannins and earthy black fruit tones, but there is a slight shortfall in freshness and the finish is beginning to show some austerity. Tasted at La Trompette at the WIMPS Bordeaux dinner.

This wine may merit an outstanding score after several more years in the bottle. Although it has closed down since bottling, it is an impressively endowed, rich, sweet cassis smelling and tasting Lafon-Rochet. The wine's impressively saturated deep ruby/purple color is accompanied by vanillin, earth, and spicy scents, medium to full body, excellent to outstanding richness, and moderate tannin in the powerful, well-delineated finish. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2018. The Tesseron family, who have done so much to propel Pontet-Canet into the limelight, continue to upgrade the quality of Lafon-Rochet. The above effort is a tannic, backward wine that will require patience.