The 2020 La Gaffelière is a bold yet elegant Saint-Émilion with deep layers of plum, blackberry, dark chocolate, and graphite. Rich and structured with velvety tannins and a vibrant finish, it blends ripe Merlot with fragrant Cabernet Franc for a wine that's powerful now but built to age beautifully.

The Wine Independent | TWI 98

The 2020 La Gaffelière is composed of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color, it soars out of the glass with expressive notes of redcurrant jelly, plum preserves, and kirsch, plus nuances of dark chocolate, violets, pencil lead, and fragrant soil with a waft of crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate is so tightly wound, featuring very fine layers of red and black fruit intertwined with floral and mineral nuances, supported by highly pixilated, super-ripe tannins and amazing tension, finishing very long and with the energy of an atomic bomb. This is stunning!

Jamessuckling.com | JS 97
Published: Dec 5, 2022

Deep and intense notes of plums and blackberries with dark chocolate, toasted spices, walnut, crushed graphite and wet stones. Full-bodied with layers of ripe, velvety tannins that flow in a firm stream throughout the palate. Very structured. Delicious chocolate-wrapped black and blue fruit with spiced character and a really long finish. 60% merlot and 40% cabernet franc. Drink from 2028.

The Wine Advocate | RP 95
Published: Apr 6, 2023
Drink: 2026-2050

A worthy follow up to the excellent 2019, the 2020 La Gaffelière bursts with aromas of plums, sweet berries, licorice, mint and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and concentrated, with lively acids and vibrant fruit flavors, it's built around powdery, fine-grained tannins. Cabernet Franc represents fully 40% of the blend. As I wrote last year, this estate, in many respects Saint-Émilion's sleeping giant, is awakening.

Decanter | D 95
Published: Jan 2, 2023
Drink: 2025-2044

Perfumed, delicate, generous and evocative all in equal measure. The fruit quality is excellent, so vibrant and lifted, shining out of the glass. Really bright with energy and dynamism. Lovely lifted expression full of rose petals, herbal-tinged raspberries, blackcurrants and plums. Chalky, creamy and salty, with a cooling freshness. Lots to like with classic elements as well as touches of the hot vintage. It’s not showing it’s best right now but this is delicious.

Gaffeliere.com

Vintage condition
Despite a hot and dry summer, the Merlots reached excellent ripeness on our clay-limestone soils. The Cabernet Francs are later, and they benefited from the rain at the end of September to reach perfect ripeness. Both dense and aromatic, we can find a lot of freshness, balance and complexity in the 2020, making it a great vintage to lay down for ageing!  

Blend
60% Merlot
40% Cabernet Franc