Critics Ratings

‘Excellent depth of blackish ruby. Very intense and captivating on the nose. Lovely already. So complete. Gorgeous blend of freshness and ripeness with some of that bloody-meat right-bank opulence. Really lovely and rewarding. Great to drink now. So refined! Purer than the rich 2005 and 2010. 62% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Franc.’ - Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, 19/20 (May 2018)

‘The Château Lafleur 2000 is a monumental wine. Imagine a Harley Davidson thundering down the tarmac. Wouldn't you want to get on? It has an extremely intense, but ineffably pure nose with more mineral expression than the Lafleur 1995. It has loosened up a little since I last tasted it, but I concur with Robert Parker that if I were lucky enough to have some of these in my cellar, I would wait until 2020 to experience the wine at its plateau. Allowing the wine to open over 30 minutes, I notice an almost flinty scent developing on the bouquet. The palate is medium-bodied, crystalline and symmetrical—everything beautifully focused—almost Left Bank in texture. This had a firm backbone, but that is becoming more "flexible" in recent years, and it fans out with consummate ease on a finish that is so long that it makes "War and Peace" seem like a short read. This is simply magnificent. Drinking window: 2020 - 2060.’ - Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, 100/100 (Feb 2015)

Provenance

The Coats Family Cellar is arguably the most prestigious fine wine collection ever offered in South Africa. It contains a deep collection of the worlds finest, most sought-after wines, spanning over 150 years. Collected over many decades, the cellar was imported from Ireland to South Africa via reefer. Each bottle within the Coats Family Cellar was authenticated by Michael Egan in August 2022 and given an ID number for tracking.

Michael Egan is a world-expert in fine and rare wines with more than thirty five years of experience. He was the principal expert for the plaintiff in the two major wine counterfeiting trials in Koch v. Eric Greenberg and United States v. Rudy Kurniawan, both of which occurred in 2013.

Along with Michael Egan, the Strauss & Co Fine Wine team have tasted extensively through the cellar and are confident of the wine storage and hence quality. The entire collection is currently stored at Wine Cellar.