Chateau Lafon Rochet St. Estephe Bordeaux Wine

Chateau Lafon Rochet St. Estephe Bordeaux Fourth Growth, wine producer profile, with wine tasting notes, wine ratings, a history of the property, information on wine making and terroir, along with wine tasting reviews. If you want to read about other Bordeaux wine producers: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Chateau Lafon Rochet in St. Estephe dates back to the middle of the 17th century. The estate was founded In 1650, when Antoinette de Guillemotte, brought the land of Rochette as her dowry to her husband, Pierre de Lafon. de Lafon with well-known in the region as he was a member of the Bordeaux Parliament. Shortly after they were married, following the custom of the day, the property was renamed, taking the name family name and Chateau Lafon Rochet was born.

While many Bordeaux vineyards were confiscated during the French Revolution, that did not happen to Lafon Rochet. In fact, the Left Bank estate remained the property of the same family for more than two centuries. In 1880, Madame Lafon de Camarsac died. Her death caused Lafon Rochet to drift into all changed in 1959 when the Tesseron family purchased and completely renovated Lafon Rochet from top to bottom. That began the modern era of Lafon Rochet.

Tesseron had his work cut out for him at his Medoc property. The vineyards were in poor shape. Much of the land needed to be replanted. Because the wine making facilities had also become dilapidated, Tesseron was forced to build all new wine making facilites. Even the Chateau had to be replaced!

In 1999, after being in the Bordeaux wine trade for more than four decades, Michel Tesseron, took over the property and decided, to change the classic style of the 18th century design. He did it by adding some color to Lafon Rochet. As you can see, Lafon Rochet is not a bright, sunny, shade of yellow. Lafon Rochet is still in the Tesseron families hands. Currently the property is managed by Basile Tesseron.

Bordeaux Harvest at Lafon Rochet Harvest in St. Estephe

The 45 hectare vineyards of Lafon Rochet are in almost one single, large parcel with three soil types, limestone, marl and clay. Chateau Lafon Rochet has good neighbors. Located no far from Chateau Cos d’Estournel or Chateau Lafite Rothschjild in Pauillac, the St. Estephe Bordeaux wine vineyard of Lafon Rochet is planted to 54% Cabernet-Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot with vines that average 40 years of age.  The vines are planted to a density of 9,800 vines per hectare on 40 separate parcels.

To match the 40 parcels, the estate has a total of 40 stainless steel, temperature controlled vats to allow for parcel by parcel vinification.  Malolactic fermetation takes place in a combination of new oak barrels and vat. The wine of Lafon Rochet is aged in 100% new, French oak barrels for 9 months before it is moved to one year old barrels where it remains for an additional 9 months.  In 2012, in an effort to make even better wine, Lafon Rochet made two significant moves. First, they hired the well known consultant Jean-Claude Berrouet, who is best for his work at Petrus to help with the making. They also used optical sorting technology for the first time.

On average, close to 10,000 cases of Lafon Rochet are produced each vintage. There is a second wine, Les Pelerins de Lafon Rochet.

www.lafon-rochet.com