Chateau Lafite Rothschild

Such is the importance and international reputation of Chateau Lafite that its fame goes way beyond just wine enthusiasts. Its history goes back hundreds of years and mentions royalty and presidents. Suffice to say, this producer has long been considered one of the best in the world, not just in Bordeaux.

The Terroir

Pauillac is a municipality within the Haut Médoc region of Bordeaux, containing three of the top five producers of the region. The vineyard of Chateau Lafite covers some 270 acres of this prime growing area and neighbouring Saint Estèphe, with well-draining soils consisting of gravel, sand, and limestone. The vines (70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot, with the rest being Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) average almost 40 years in age, and only those over 10 years old get used for the flagship wine.

First and Second

Chateau Lafite Rothschild is this producer’s ‘first wine’, using 80% or more of Cabernet Sauvignon and all new oak barrels. Famous the world over, it commands a lot of respect and a price tag to match. Currently, Wine.com has some 2003 vintage for $1200 a bottle…

Carruades de Lafite, the ‘second wine’, has a higher percentage of Merlot and uses the barrels from the previous year’s first wine. This makes for a more affordable option, albeit still by no means cheap. You can pre-order the 2018 vintage now on Wine.com for $245. 

One of the things good Bordeaux wines are known for is their ability to develop over time, sometimes decades, displaying incredible complexity. Both the first and second wines of Chateau Lafite are no exception to this, with the first wine, in particular, showing extraordinary age-worthiness.

This bottle

So what’s a mere mortal like me doing with a bottle of Chateau Lafite’s second wine from 2001? 

In 2005 I bought two bottles of Carruades de Lafite in Roscoff, France, before travelling home on the ferry. I didn’t know all that much about wine, but anything from Lafite had to be good, right?

At 45 Euros each (about $65 at the time) it was the most I’d ever spent on a bottle of wine, but it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I knew it was one to keep for a while, so they went in the wine rack awaiting the right time to be opened. After watching the price creep up over time (roughly 100 Euros at that point), my parents and I opened one bottle after a few years. I remember it being extremely good, but my tasting skills were too simplistic back then to describe it to you.

The other bottle stayed there, under the stairs in my parent’s house in England, until they brought it with them earlier this year. 

The right time

October 1st this year marked my 5th anniversary of living in the United States, making it a great opportunity to drink this wine. I had my reservations about how well it had aged, given the less than ideal storage conditions, but couldn’t wait to try it.

Being such a rare opportunity, I wanted to have some of my work colleagues try the wine too, so on September 30th, I took the bottle to work to access it with the Coravin before the tasting room opened. It’s there that I made my tasting notes and took photos for this post.

Suffering from ‘Day-off beard’, but rather happy thanks to the wine.

Tasting notes

Medium garnet colour with some more orange highlights. Very good vibrancy and clarity for a wine of this age.

Complex, medium-intense nose. A somewhat funky backdrop at first, but more like old leather as the wine breathed in the glass. Every time I came back for another sniff, more aromas opened up. Black cherry, blackberry, tobacco, cedar, sandalwood, fig, allspice.

On the palate, this wine was dry and medium-bodied. Balanced medium+ acid and building fine tannin that gave a surprisingly bright and youthful mouthfeel.

Not hugely intense, but layered and complex with great balance.

Conclusions

I was expecting good wine, and this didn’t disappoint. If anything, it surprised me with just how much structure it displayed. If you’re used to big, rich California wines, you might find the finish a little thin. This was definitely more string quartet than thrash metal drummer.

Personally, I thought this wine was a beautiful example of left-bank Bordeaux goodness, and I was glad to be able to share it with Jamie and a few of my work friends.

On October 1st when I finally pulled the cork from the bottle, I also opened a 2014 ‘Maquette’ Bordeaux blend from Sculpterra Winery. The Maquette had a more full mouthfeel on the finish and tasted like a Black Forest Gateau by comparison, with rich cherry, chocolate, and creamy vanilla oak flavours. My wife actually prefered the Maquette, so it all goes to show it’s a matter of taste (good for the bank balance too…). Very different wines indeed, and I enjoyed them both very much.

As for my music tastes, rock and metal seem to be my usual thing, but I’ll still enjoy classical and operatic music when I’m in the mood. What does that say about my wine habits I wonder?

To find out more about my travels in Spain and France, click to see My Wine Journey.

Click here to read my review of Sculpterra’s Maquette 2014 from July 2018.

Grilled beef tenderloin and green bell pepper with butternut squash fries. Paired rather nicely with both wines.

Darren