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  • Country ranking ?

    1 278
  • Producer ranking ?

    67
  • Decanting time

    45min
  • When to drink

    now
  • Food Pairing

    Enjoy without food

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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5* Michael Broadbent
Eight notes. Even in a vintage like this, Lafite sold their wine in bulk (by the tonneau, four barriques yielding approximately 100 dozen bottles) to Bordeaux négociants for bottling and shipping on to other merchants. The first I tasted, in 1971, had been bottled by Louis Mortier: light, refined, beautiful flavor. The same year, ‘Château Lafite Grand Vin’ could have been a Harvey’s Bristol bottling. It was a lovely, gentle, cedary and elegant wine. In 1978 at a Heublein pre-sale tasting, two bottles from the Ten Broeck mansion, New york, curiously labelled ‘Mise d’A.G. & E.Rothschild’, one low and ‘blown’, the other quiet good, ‘a little tart, but clean’! An exquisite bottle at the Overton tasting in 1979 and a rather varnishy one at Lloyd Flatt’s in 1988. More recently, a spectacular, recorked, Double Magnum: fragrant, gentle, beautifully balanced. Last noted at Eigensatz’s tasting, May 1999. 

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The Story

The Château Lafite estate run by the Rothschilds is, with its 100 hectares of cultivated land, the largest of the main Pauillac vineyards.

It is located in the highest part of the area and the view from its château, with its conical towers that appear on the label, takes in the banks of the River Gironde, which flows nearby. The wines are a blend of four different varieties of grape – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Lafite matures slightly earlier than other Premier Cru wines in the region on account of the generous amounts of Merlot used, and it is this that also makes the wine more delicate and subtle than those wines which are completely dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon.

“Lafite has a soul, a beautiful, generous, kindly soul. Lafite turns bare earth into heaven. Lafite is harmony, a harmony between man and nature, because without our magnificent winegrowers, nothing would be accomplished.”
Baron Eric de Rothschild 


Of the five Premier Cru wines in the region, Château Lafite to my mind has managed to produce the year’s best wine in many of the top years in 1900th centrury. The times I have spent in the company of a 1934, 1953, 1959, 1982 and 1986 have been unforgettable. And it was then that I always remembered how many wine critics fondly describe Lafite as ‘the perfection of elegance’.

Vineyard soil: fine gravel mixed with aeolien sands on a bedrock of tertiary limestone
Production area: 103 ha
Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon (71%), Merlot (25%), Cabernet Franc (3%) and Petit Verdot (1%)
Average age of vines: 30 years
Harvest method: hand picked
Winemaking: the vinification is nowadays done with all the sophisticated instruments which modern oenology has created. Fermentation takes place in large oak vats in which the musts remain for 18 to 25 days.
Ageing: the wines are aged entirely in new barrels for 18 to 24 months. During this time,the wine is racked 7 times and is fined with the whites of 6 eggs per barrel. Only certain vats are selected to make the Grand Vin, Lafite. The others are used to make the second wine of Lafite, the “Carruades de Lafite”.

 

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Vintage 1899

Bordeaux: Harvest began on September 24th, and ushered in an excellent vintage, with wines of very high quality. Among the most exceptional wines of the year were Ausone, Lafite Rothschild, Latour and Haut-Brion, all of which aged well into the next century, a few still going strong today. The first Bordeaux trams began running this year, and King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway visited the Médoc, signing the guest book at Château Lafite Rothschild.

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Average Bottle Price

2023 2020 2017 2015 2013 2011 2010 2005 2000
6 290€ +14.6% 5 490€ -20.9% 6 944€ +7.0% 6 490€ +19.1% 5 449€ +27.1% 4 287€ -19.1% 5 299€ +100.5% 2 643€ -19.6% 3 287€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Tasting note

color

Medium, Brick red and Cloudy

ending

Short, Smooth and Sharp

flavors

Cherry, Leather and Earthy

nose

Closed, Refined and Mature

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Medium tannin, Medium-bodied, Modest, Elegant, Firm, Round and Silky tannins

Verdict

Uninteresting

Written Notes

Château Lafite Rothschild 1899 presents an ethereal journey through time, embodying a delicate balance of resilience and evanescence. The color, a softly faded brick red, hints at its venerable age, yet the brightness at the core whispers of a vitality that defies the decades.

The bouquet is a symphony of dried roses, soft leather, and a nuanced melody of underbrush and forest floor. Swirling in the glass, it unveils secondary notes of tobacco leaf, dried fig, and a trace of worn, antique wood.

On the palate, the wine speaks softly but with profound depth, its diminished fruit elegantly supplanted by an earthy tapestry of mushroom, truffle, and dried herbs. Delicate tannins gently caress the palate, while an ethereal acidity maintains a remarkable freshness, guiding the wine to a prolonged, subtly spiced finish.

In its gentle decay, this illustrious vintage narrates a story of centuries passed, offering a momentary glimpse into the vanished world from which it sprung.

98 points

 

  • 98p
The next red got a ‘serious’ from Big Boy. Sir Robert added ‘graphite, archetypical house style.’ There was classic cedar, tobacco and graphite in its nose, along with some old book, cobwebs and sour cherry. The palate was long, sexy and elegant with great acidity. It was a gift from The Punisher, from his favorite cellar of the moment. This 1899 Lafite Rothschild delivered another great experience from that great cellar (94).
  • 94p
Estate bottled. Fill level top shoulder. A little cloudy medium deep cherry colour. Slightly closed nose – cherries, earth, horses. Fairly light and acid structure give the wine elegance with medium tannins giving firmness. The taste, however, lacks intensity and fruit. Slightly short, incomplete and bony aftertaste. This wine has seen better days, but still provides an enjoyable experience.
  • 90p
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Information

Origin

Pauillac, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Unsatisfactory

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

Serious
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