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Tasting notes
This is another fabulous wine from David Suire at Laroque – whose meticulous attention to detail in the vineyard allowed him to succeed in the challenging vintage. The nose is bright and fresh, with red-berry fruit, and an abundance of 2023’s typically floral notes. Firm, vertical tannins quickly dissipate into a lifted, red-fruited mid-palate. With 3.42pH and 14.5% alcohol (which is effortlessly integrated), there’s an overall wonderful sense of tension to this wine. The finish is long and mouth-watering, full of earthy minerality, with a saline, moreish finish. Aged in 50% new oak. Blend: 99% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Deep purple-hued, the 2023 Château Laroque offers ripe black cherries and darker framboise-like fruit intermixed with leafy herbs, tobacco, and damp, truffly earth-like nuances. Coming from a cooler terroir on the upper plateau, it gains minerality with time in the glass and plays in the medium-bodied, juicy, elegant style of the vintage as well as the château. Beautifully balanced and elegant, it has ripe, integrated tannins and is going to benefit from just 3-4 years of bottle age. Drink 2029-2045.
The 2023 Laroque is classy, elegant and polished. A wine of total understatement and class, Laroque sizzles with all of the tension that is such a signature of the limestone parcels. In some recent vintages, Laroque has been more charming at the outset. The 2023, on the other hand, is a wine that is going to require a few years in bottle to be at its finest. Tasted two times.
The 2023 Laroque has a reserved nose at first that gradually opens in the glass: black fruit, briar and a light marine influence that I appreciate, lending more complexity. The palate is medium-bodied with rounded, pliant tannins. This has a keen line of acidity and though it does not have the nuance of the 2022 on the finish, this is a classy Saint-Émilion.
About the producer
Ch. Laroque is a Saint-Emilion fine wine estate which takes its name from the plateau of limestone rock on which it sits.