CARRUADES DE CHÂTEAU LAFITE
2017 Pauillac
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc. Escaped any serious frosting. Quite closed at the this stage. There is lovely juice on the palate. A hint of dark sweet fruit begins to reveal itself in the mid-palate. Dusty tannins and good acidity gives the wine excellent poise and direction. A classy second wine worth keeping an eye on. Rating: 90 L&S (Apr 2018)
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60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc. Deep crimson. More lifted and fragrant than the Duhart-Milon just tasted. Dark-red fruit and graphite freshness. Richer and sweeter fruited on the mid palate than the Duhart, a little more generous. Very soft texture but not lacking backgrounded structure. Elegant, and an attractive minerally, dark-fruited finish. Subtle. Understated. Drinking range: 2025 - 2037 Rating: 16.5 Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2018)
Lafite got to enjoy a year without excess and without frost, and this is elegant stuff. The tannins are a touch rigid at the beginning, supporting firm black autumnal fruits, classically framed and a touch austere, with cigar box smoke adding a swirl of complexity. As with many of the second wines in Pauillac this year, this is excellently put together but on the savoury side, reflecting the story of the vintage. 20% new oak. This is sure to age well and be ready to drink within four to eight years. Drinking range: 2024 - 2038 Rating: 91 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2018)
A bright Carruades with cedar and tobacco character. Medium to full body and medium chewy tannins. Very pretty center palate. Rating: 92-93 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2018)
Tasted as the filling in a Duhart-Milon-Lafite-Rothschild, sandwich it is immediately clear that this cuvée has taken a much larger part of the Merlot harvest this year. The blend is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc, otherwise the technical information and picking dates are as for the grand vin. This has a very bright, open and floral character to the nose, with red rose-petal and peony scents, underlined with a chalky, lime and gravel freshness. The palate capitalises on this elegant beginning with a supple and understated opening, a very refined texture, with quite notable finesse. This is pure, focused, medium-bodied, with a very delicate grip at the wine's heart, the tannins showing subtle substance, in a quite silky style and nicely balanced against some very fresh acidity. A very pretty second wine, composed and long, with a chalky-tannin finish. Really nice potential here. Rating: 90-92 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2018)
Château Lafite
1855 classification - Premier Grand Cru Classé The long history of Château Lafite includes a period in the 17th and 18th century when it was owned by the Ségur family, who also at the time owned Latour and who's name lives on at Calon-Ségur and Phelan-Ségur. By the time of the 1855 classification which rightly recognised the reputation of Lafite, the estate was under a complicated ownership arrangement which inevitably unravelled, and Lafite was sold to Baron James de Rothschild, largely it would seem to keep uo with his cousin Nathaniel Rothschild who had recently purchased Brane-Mouton (later to become Mouton Rothschild). He died a couple of months later, but his descendents own the estate to this day. Baron Eric, who took control during the 1970's, returned Lafite to its rightful place at the top of the Bordeaux hierarchy with a programme of investment, improvement and modernisation. There are 103ha of land under vine at Lafite, facing Cos d'Estournel across the Jalle du Breuil which marks the border between Pauillac and Saint Estèphe. Indeed, Lafite own a small parcel of vines over the border in Saint Estèphe. Just over 70% is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon with 25% Merlot and smaller portions of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Vines for the grand vin average around 40 years old with none less than 10. Wines are aged in barrels from their own cooperage for aound 18 months. The second wine is Carruades de Lafite which usually features a higher proportion of Merlot in the cuvée.
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