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  • Country ranking ?

    1 108
  • Producer ranking ?

    50
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    now to 2025
  • Food Pairing

    Beef

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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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Wine Information


Vintage 1988

The terrible battle against fungus was won through use of fungicides, after a hot and dry summer and September that let the grapes mature. The 1988s are deeply coloured Cabernets and Merlots, powerfully structured and tannic.

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Vintage 1988

The first of a trio of great vintages and which was rather overshadowed by the 89s and 90s. Certainly the most "classic" of the trio, with many wines which are not overtly fruit-focused, but which have levels of extract and concentration which make them perfect candidates for prolonged storage.

The first half of the year was exceptionally cold and wet and the vintage was saved by a long, dry and hot summer. Harvest began in mid-September and some cabernets were not picked until the 3rd week of October. Most wines are now approaching their plateau of maturity, with the choice of the bunch being the Cabernet-dominated Médocs and Graves. Pauillac was particularly successful.

 

 

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

14 tasting notes

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Written Notes

I haven’t always been lucky with my Lafites. Despite very complimentary tasting notes, many vintages from the 1960s and 1970s showed disappointingly lean constitution in the bottles I opened. I waited a long time before finding what I had dreamed of as a young wine-lover: the heights of finesse and distinction that had placed it at the absolute summit of Pauillac and Bordeaux in the 19th century.

Even the 1982 and 1990 never matched the magic of 1988 for me, a type of in-between vintage that gives priority to the grapes and the terroir rather than the climate. With exemplary consistency (I bought a case of it en primeur, which is no longer possible at today’s prices), each bottle I opened was seductive, with an incomparable refinement of texture and cedar aromas of textbook perfection, as Pierre Casamayor, one of my tasting masters, would have said. This type of wine gives you the feeling of hovering above any oenological contingency, in a naturalness that combines unbounded flavour and rigorous construction. In short, everything we love about our great Cabernet Sauvignons. In recent vintages, these incomparable qualities that have been absent for so long will be found again, perhaps with even more substance. And we didn’t have to wait more than twenty years for it to blossom.

Dark, brick red colour. Pronounced and evolved earthy nose with leather and volcanic spicy notes. Intense medium-bodied palate, vivid texture and supple tannins, savoury lingering mineral finish. Drinki now and decant for 1.5 hours. – JL 97p (May 2023) 

  • 97p

Tasted blind, the 1988 Lafite-Rothschild surprises everyone by surpassing both the 1989 and 1990. It has that unmistakable classic nose of pencil lead and cedar, less primary fruit than that aforementioned pair, yet greater precision, more focus and more class. The palate is both clean and precise with exquisite balance, fine tannins, cedar and tobacco infusing the black fruit with pencil lead notes becoming more accentuated towards the finish. It has been a while since I last tasted the 1988 and to be honest, I cannot remember it being this good. But now, of the three vintages that tailend the decade I would choose the 1988 Lafite-Rothschild. Tasted at the Lafite-Rothschild 150th anniversary dinner at the property.

  • 94p

Ruby. Anise, cherries, figs, dates, some spices, lightly scented nose. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, dark berries, anise, some spices, nuanced, detailed, long. 93

  • 93p
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Origin

Pauillac, Bordeaux
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