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  • Country ranking ?

    1 158
  • Producer ranking ?

    58
  • Decanting time

    45min
  • When to drink

    now to 2025
  • Food Pairing

    Roast Leg of Lamb with Mint Pesto & Mustard Crumbs

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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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Tasting note

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Written Notes

Dark copper colour. Expressive nose with fine aroma reminiscent of discreet spices. Discreet balmy hints. Elegant palate with very good length. 

  • 93p

Bright, light brownish colour. Complex and seductive toasty, coconut nose with some Macademian nuts. Medium-bodied palate is round and with with good concentration. Bit rustic finish with cherry notes. A decadent wine. – JL 92p. (Aug 2023)

  • 92p

The 1920 Lafite-Rothschild comes from a great but forgotten vintage. Fully mature on the nose, it is quite exquisite with bewitching scents of leather, sandalwood, pot-pourri and just a hint of dark chocolate. I adore the manner in which this gathers momentum in the glass and yet remains warm and mellow. The palate is fresh and finely balanced, elegant and refined in its dotage. Harmonious in the mouth, you can still feel the weight, the presence of what must have been a dense and perhaps very structured wine in its youth. It improves in the glass with suggestions of orange rind and even marmalade towards the finish. On the aftertaste is just a hint of Lapsong Souchang, completing a sophisticated and divine Lafite-Rothschild. Tasted at the Lafite-Rothschild 150th anniversary dinner at the property.

  • 94p
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Information

Origin

Pauillac, Bordeaux

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