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Lafite-Rothschild 2018

Château Lafite-Rothschild, Bordeaux, France

Château Lafite-Rothschild
Bordeaux France
  • 100
    Points
  • The 93 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 21 Pros of
    21 recommend
    this wine
1059 100
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    76

  • Producer ranking ?

    6

  • Decanting time

    4h

  • When to drink

    from 2025

  • Food Pairing

    roasted game with mushrooms

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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The 2018 Lafite Rothschild is blended of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Merlot and 0.5% Petit Verdot and has 13.3% alcohol. The Merlot was harvested September 17-24, the Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested September 25 to October 5, and the Cabernet Franc was harvested on September 24. It has a deep purple-black color and then WOW—what a nose. It comes sashaying out of the glass with bags of grace and perfume, revealing notions of lilacs, red roses...

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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

Quality seems to be back to the highest level under wine-maker Eric Kohler who took over in 2015. Eric believes that the 2018 here is in the category of the 2010 and 2016 with a touch of 2009 about it. The yield was 40 hl/ha and the blend is 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Merlot with a pinch of Petit Verdot. Although it was of high quality, most of the estate's Merlot was relegated to the second wine - Carruades Lafite

.

On the eve of the ...

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Vintage 2018

2018 Bordeaux Vintage Report and recommendations

by Andrew Caillard MW

2018 is an exceptional year. The Bordeaux whites and sauternes are very good, but from an Australian perspective the excitement is all in the red wines. All sub regions produced examples of really good wines, but some performed better than others. Generally the very top estates made exemplary wines illustrating that the human factor and wealth can have a major impact ...

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Average Bottle Price

2023
715€

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

Château Lafite 2018 / Very pure and extremely focused beam of cassis, black cherry puree on the nose. It has fabulous aromas of black truffles, currants, raspberry and dried flowers. Already soft, plush and savory in the mouth, it has a long, mineral-tinged finish. This is an emotional and soulful red.

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  • 98p

What will unquestionably be another magical wine from Eric Kohler and his team, the 2018 Château Lafite checks in as 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Merlot, and just a splash of Petit Verdot. It's a classic Lafite that offers a deep purple/ruby color and beautiful notes of crème de cassis, lead pencil shavings, tobacco, cedar, and graphite. Flawlessly balanced, full-bodied, and seamless, it's a wine that builds incrementally on the palate, offering incredible finesse, ripe, present tannins, and a great finish. It reminds me of a more elegant version of the 2016 and should be approachable with just 5-6 years of cellaring and keep just about forever. Barrel Sample: 96-98.

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  • 98p

It will take its place after the 1959 in the legend, with more intensity at birth, more precision, a larger scale of flavours and a finesse in the tannins’ integration than all the beautiful past vintages. Great wine, worthy of its pedigree.

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  • 98p

Ruby. Tight, dark fruity, blackberries, liquorice and spices, denser. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, dark fruity, spices, liquorice, layered, detailed, intense and dense. A richer Lafite, powerful, or rather denser. Alcohol on the very low side this year at 13,3. 96-98

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  • 97p

Deep colour. Intense dark cherry cassis aronaswiry cedar notes. Very concentrated wine with deep set blackcurrant blackberry flavours, plentiful cedar tannins and marked long acidity. Very precise wine with linear structure and pure fruit expression, but surprisingly restrained for Lafite. Maybe a root day.

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  • 96p

The wine is perfumed with new wood and sweet fruits, delicious black currant flavors giving both ripeness and freshness. The wine has weight and impressive density.

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  • 98p

Excellent fruit. Big and refined tannins are the hallmark of yet another great Lafite. The fruit seems to overpower the tannins somewhat in this stage but the barrel aging should fill those tannins in to bring the fruit and the tannins in a perfect balance. Nut as so often, Lafite manages this skill to perfection. A sure bet!

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  • 99p

Dark purple red colour with violet hue and black core. A great nose with multi-layered character, fragrant fruit, discreet spiciness, discreet roasting aroma, wonderful balance. On the palate opulent character yet very elegant with great freshness, multi-layered with excellent depth and length, sweet tannins and lush fruit, elegant spiciness. An impressing wine with great tension and superb potential 

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  • 99p
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Information

Origin

Pauillac, Bordeaux

Inside Information

This is silky and delicious and juicy, not something you can often say about a Lafite En Primeur sample but before you even get close to tasting the wine you can feel the layers building.

It has the precision, the freshness and the sense of effortless elegance that Lafite always conveys with lots of power and depth, deep black fruits on the nose and a mix of spices from rosemary to saffron on the palate.

Is it better than the 2016? It’s hard to say at this stage but it certainly feels its equal, although differently constructed and unlikely to take as long to come around - think 10 rather than 14 years before reaching its drinking window.

It's worth adding that very few wines have been so unmarked by the extremes of the vintage, or as technical director Eric Kohler puts it; 'Even after 25 years of working at Lafite I continue to be full of admiration for this terroir. Other plots that we own reacted to the heat at times, but Lafite just kept sailing on as usual'.

The harvest took place between 17 September and 5 October, with a yield of 40hl/ha. 40% of the production went into the grand vin. 3.75pH which is classic for them. 74IPT.
Score: 98/100 Jane Anson, Decanter.com, April 2019
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