Pomerol · Bordeaux
Château Lafleur
The Guinaudeau Family
On the northern crest of the Pomerol plateau, beside Petrus, lie 4.5 hectares that many consider the most singular terroir in Bordeaux. Since 1872, five generations of one family have owned, managed and — above all — farmed Château Lafleur. Fashion holds no weight here; it is all about the vines, the soils, and wines of extraordinary purity.
Jacques, Sylvie, Baptiste and Julie Guinaudeau craft Lafleur alongside Les Pensées, the Fronsac limestone cuvées Les Perrières and Les Champs Libres, and Grand Village.
The Domaine
Henri Greloud, Pomerol’s pioneer of single-vineyard wine, purchased the plot in 1872 and named it Lafleur. The Robin sisters kept it untouched for forty years — ploughing by ox until 1979 — before their great-great-nephew Jacques Guinaudeau leased the property in 1985 and completed the family’s purchase in 2002.
Terroir
Gravel hillock over brown clay to the north and west, sandier soils to the south, pure gravel eastward — a mosaic shared with Petrus, Vieux Château Certan and Le Gay as neighbours.
In the Vines
No chemical has ever touched this land. Twenty-four parcels interplant Merlot with the estate’s famous old-vine Bouchet (Cabernet Franc), repopulated entirely by hand-grafted massale selection — some of the oldest vine material in Bordeaux.
In the Cellar
Traditional vinification in stainless steel and cement, malolactic complete, and fourteen to eighteen months in barrel depending on the cuvée.
In the Library
Three wines currently rest in the Library, including grand-format bottlings of the château’s celebrated crus.