Saint-Émilion AOC · Grand Cru Classé de Saint-Émilion

Château Laroque 2022

Château Laroque · 2022 · Right Bank Bordeaux blend (Merlot-dominant)

youthful · computed from type + maturity — banded, not measured
St-Emilion — revealedSt-Emilion · revealed

$39.99 · K&L Wines · ordered 2025-08-24 · sku 1843061

mixedcrowd-pleaser, not a personal favorite

Very meh for own palate despite the limestone-fresh style — weakens the hypothesis that the dislike is only about low-acid plushness. Crowd-pleaser, not a personal favorite.

entries reconstructed retroactively, 2026-07-19

critics/consensus

A limestone-plateau Saint-Émilion that turns a hot, dry 2022 into cool tension: cassis and plum lifted by violets, graphite, crushed-stone salinity and ultra-fine tannin — the David Suire-era value darling firing on all cylinders.

critics/consensus

Descriptors

click a term to see why it attaches to this wine

fruit
cassispresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOC
plumpresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOCclassic for Merlot
black cherrypresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOCclassic for Merlot
raspberrypresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOCclassic for Cabernet Franc
floral & herbal
violetpresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOCclassic for Cabernet Franc
dried herbspresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOCclassic for Merlot
earth & mineral
graphitepresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOC
slatepresent in this bottle’s notes
chalkpresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOC
salinepresent in this bottle’s notes
oak & spice
vanillapresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOCclassic for Merlot
mochapresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOC
licoricepresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOC
tertiary — with age
trufflepresent in this bottle’s notes
leatherpresent in this bottle’s notesclassic for Saint-Émilion AOC

The vintage

2022 brought intense summer heat and prolonged drought to Bordeaux's Right Bank, but Laroque's clay-limestone plateau acted as a water reservoir, keeping the vines fresh; the estate harvested a healthy, ripe crop between 14 and 30 September.

A powerful yet surprisingly fresh warm-vintage style: deep, ripe black fruit carried by vivid acidity and fine tannins, with the limestone lending lift and tension rather than heaviness. One of the sleepers of the vintage.

Vineyard

Clay over limestone at one of the highest elevations of the Saint-Émilion plateau.

Vines average about 40 years (14 ha near 55 years); 6,000 vines/ha; harvested 14–30 September 2022.

About 27 hectares of the estate's best deep, clay-rich parcels on the limestone plateau of St-Christophe-des-Bardes, near Troplong Mondot and Rocheyron.

In the cellar & winery

Parcel-by-parcel in temperature-controlled cobalt-blue cement vats; reductive ageing on fine lees, first racking after 6 months.

Raised in 60% new oak, with a portion in larger formats and foudre.

The high-limestone terroir preserved freshness and a cool, mineral edge through a very warm, dry year.

Composition

vintage-specific blend · abv 14.5%

window 2027–2050 · youthful, as of mid-2026Youthful and primary (as of mid-2026) — delicious already but built to gain from about five more years and to evolve over two decades-plus.

← the cellar