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Lafite-Rothschild 1990

Château Lafite-Rothschild, Bordeaux, France

Château Lafite-Rothschild
Bordeaux France
  • 99
    Points
  • The 281 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 22 Pros of
    22 recommend
    this wine
1057 99
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    237

  • Producer ranking ?

    13

  • Decanting time

    2h

  • When to drink

    now to 2025

  • Food Pairing

    Veal Chops in Rich Marsala Sauce

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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 F...

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Wine Information

The yield was abundant and of outstanding quality. Excellent climatic conditions for the harvests. Very deep colour. A complex bouquet with currant, blackberry, smoke, leather, and spice aromas. You can fathom just a hint of oak. The bite is sincere and elegant, with many tight and mature tannins. It has a silky texture, and a very long finish. This wine may be preserved for a very long time.

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Vintage 1990

An early, even flowering, a warm but unspectacular summer and an exceptionally hot period during the end of August and the first half of September. It was this heat that made it possible for the record harvest to not only to fully ripen, but also to concentrate the fruit.  The harvest started on September 14 and was finished before heavy rains commenced on October 2. Another reason for the success of the vintage was that most châteaux had inve...

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Average Bottle Price

2023 2021 2019 2017 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2005
712€ +16.7% 610€ -4.7% 640€ -8.7% 701€ +12.7% 622€ -3.3% 643€ +6.8% 602€ -11.3% 679€ -22.6% 877€ -10.7% 982€ +451.7% 178€

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

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Written Notes

The last flight was upon us, and my notes were a bit briefer. We had to start gathering everyone’s votes and then tally them, so I rushed through this flight a bit more than the others. The first wine was a classic and great. It was all about the cedar, supported by morning cereal, yeast and even a hint of coconut. Its palate had excellent citric tension, and it was nice to see a good show for the ‘house’ wine, so to speak, as this was the 1990 Chateau Lafite Rothschild (95).
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  • 95p
Names and reputations don't come much bigger. Lafite in Asia now is, as they say in the classics, bigger than Ben Hur! And the prices could fund a remake of that epic with change left over. Lafite '90 is one of those wines that seemingly can't win. If it is as good as one hopes, as one expects, then it has done what it is supposed to. If it falls short, then it is tall poppy time. Fortunately, it was an absolute winner. This is a glorious Bordeaux, at its peak, though of course, it also has many years ahead of it. And it has serious class. It is balanced, amazingly long and offers a delightful mix of flavours. Plenty of cloves, lots of spice, cedar, cigar box. There was the merest hint of an intriguing chicken coop note but certainly all it did was add to the complexity and the core was all sweet, beautiful fruit. And there is plenty of complexity here. Worth noting that the alcohol level noted on the bottle was a mere, almost wimpy in today's terms, 12.5%. This wine is all class. Great Bordeaux doesn't get much better than this. 98
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  • 98p

The 1990 Lafite-Rothschild is a wine that often felt a little green around 15 years ago and then became good for a brief period. I was less impressed when Charles Chevalier showed several vintages in London some years ago. This bottle reinforces my opinion that this is a second-rate Lafite in a first-rate vintage. Quite youthful in color, it has a modest nose of blackberry, mulberry, a distant tang of seaweed and leather. It lacks the vivid aromatic color of the 2000 by direct comparison. The palate is medium-bodied with robust, slightly hard tannins that are not quite in sync with the fruit. Like previous bottles, I find this rustic and feral towards the finish, as if the warmth of that summer directs the wine rather than terroir. Lafite is an enjoyable 1990, but it is not in the same class as 1990 Lynch Bages or 1990 Pichon Baron. Tasted at the Lafite-Rothschild dinner at Amuse Bouche in Hong Kong and then blind at the Lafite-Rothschild 150th anniversary dinner at the property.

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  • 90p

(Magnum, ex-château) Ruby, garnet rim. Layered, scented, fruity, cassis, leather, tobacco, complex, nuanced, astonishing nose but needed time in the glass to fully open. Gorgeous. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, fruity, elegant, refined texture and structure, subtle but intense, seductive, refreshing, very long indeed. 97

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  • 97p

Dark ruby. Lively, fresh and transparent at first with the soaraway refined scent of a Lafite. Then it took on the typical concentrated rich and velvety character of a fine 1990. Long. Impressive. 18.5/20 points  (12/2012)

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  • 95p

Interestingly, a bottle of 1990 Lafite Rothschild I pulled from my cellar for a video blog on my web site was still buttoned down, tight, and even with extended decanting was not showing as much as I would have hoped. However, a bottle tasted, of all places, in Seoul, Korea in February, was only a few points short of perfection. That amazing performance motivated me to pull another bottle out of my cellar and follow it over the course of two days. Sure enough, by the second day the wine was roaring from the glass. The 1990 Lafite has turned out far better than my early assessment. While it still possesses some firmness, and performs like a late adolescent in terms of its evolution, it boasts gorgeous aromas of cedar, tobacco leaf, cassis, and lead pencil shavings. The explosive aromas are followed by a fleshy, full-bodied wine that should hit its peak in 5-8 years, and last for 25-30 more. Release price:($1400.00/case)

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  • 96p
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Information

Origin

Pauillac, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Satisfactory

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

Be Cautious

Inside Information

Wine Advocate #183
Jun 2009		 Robert M. Parker, Jr. 96 Drink: 2014 - 2044 $687-$2240
Interestingly, a bottle of 1990 Lafite Rothschild I pulled from my cellar for a video blog on my web site was still buttoned down, tight, and even with extended decanting was not showing as much as I would have hoped. However, a bottle tasted, of all places, in Seoul, Korea in February, was only a few points short of perfection. That amazing performance motivated me to pull another bottle out of my cellar and follow it over the course of two days. Sure enough, by the second day the wine was roaring from the glass. The 1990 Lafite has turned out far better than my early assessment. While it still possesses some firmness, and performs like a late adolescent in terms of its evolution, it boasts gorgeous aromas of cedar, tobacco leaf, cassis, and lead pencil shavings. The explosive aromas are followed by a fleshy, full-bodied wine that should hit its peak in 5-8 years, and last for 25-30 more. Release price:($1400.00/case)

 

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