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 | 2019 Ch. Lafite Rothschild - Pauillac 1er GCC | € 475,00 (€ 574,75) |
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94% Cabernet Sauvignon domineert dit nobel assemblage, aangevuld met 5% Merlot en een vleugje Petit Verdot. De oogst verliep tussen 19 september en 7 oktober. Na een sombere oogstreling imponeert le Premier des Premiers met de meest ideale weerspiegeling van Cabernet Sauvignon: de meest geavanceerde cassis verschijnt op een achtergrond van ceder en Cohiba Esplendidos. Een vloedgolf aan heerlijke tannine stuwen de kern van rijp zwart fruit vooruit in verfijning. De finale is beklijvend en compleet. Zijn minéralité is hartveroverend, de eiktoetsen subtiel gefumeerd. Dit klinkt als Claude Debussy door Wilson Audio luidsprekers: het relief van de sensatie bezorgt kippevel. Saskia de Rothschild stuurt voortaan Lafite aan met een vernieuwd élan. De jonge dame heeft de toewijding van de jonge mama die ze ondertussen geworden is. Regen op de avond van 26 juli na een hittegolf leidde tot een regendans. Samen met Eric Kohler, wijnmaker sinds 2015, en Jean-Guillaume Prats, die eerder Cos d'Estournel op zijn hoog niveau bracht, zet ze een fenomenale Lafite Rothschild 2019 in de stijgers. IN DE PERS 100 William Kelley - robertparker.com (April 2022) One of the greatest wines produced in Bordeaux this year is the 2019 Lafite Rothschild, an impeccably balanced classic of immense charm and grace. Wafting from the glass with arresting aromas of cassis, blackberries and cherries mingled with violets, cigar box and warm spices, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless, its velvety attack segueing into a layered, concentrated mid-palate framed by exquisitely powdery tannins and ripe acids, and concluding with a long, perfumed finish. This rivals the 2010 and 2016 as the greatest Lafite of the decade, and of those three vintages, it's clearly the most sensual and demonstrative out of the gates. The blend contains fully 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and attained a modest 13.4% alcohol. Today, Château Lafite Rothschild amounts to some 110 hectares planted to some 900,000 vines (including 4.5 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon in Saint-Estèphe). If that figure strikes readers as smaller than it used to be, that's because Lafite has ripped up some less optimally situated plots that never tended to produce wine fit for inclusion in the grand vin. As of 2021, what's more, organic conversion is underway (15 hectares are already farmed biodynamically), and hedges and flowering borders, planted with native species, now begin to break up the monoculture of the vine. Cover crops, too, have been added to the viticultural team's agronomic arsenal and are delivering good results in parcels with more humid or clay-rich soils. In the winery, Lafite is meticulously traditional: the grapes are sorted twice, once optically, and see a classical maceration in wooden and cement tanks with pump-overs and some use of the gentle "air pulse" system that disrupts the cap and oxygenates the ferment without the need for a full pump-over. Malolactic fermentation, as ever, is in tank, and the wine matures in barrels that are mostly produced in-house, with a light toast and favoring the forests of Allier and Nevers. Each vintage is racked three times, traditionally, with one egg white fining (which requires up to 8,000 eggs). As is the case almost everywhere in the Médoc, the tendency is for less and less Merlot in the assemblage. Eric Kohler describes 2019 as the ideal growing season, which saw a hydric deficit at just the right moment to precipitate ripening; and the result is a wine of irreproachable classicism and elegance. Whether the 2010, 2016 or 2019 Lafite ultimately emerges as the best of the decade is a question that well-heeled wine lovers will have immense pleasure debating over the decades to come, but it is clear that 2019 is the most sensual and aromatically expressive at an early age. It's one of the wines of the vintage. 98 Neal Martin – vinous.com (Februari 2022) The 2019 Lafite-Rothschild screams Cabernet Sauvignon on the nose of intense black fruit, graphite and subtle minty aromas, supremely well-defined and revealing a hint of star anise with aeration. The medium-bodied palate is beautifully balanced, offering sappy black fruit, black pepper, graphite and just a touch of spice. This has more body, maybe even a touch more sinew than recent vintages, perhaps because of the reconfiguration of the Merlot parcels (see my note en primeur). Very persistent and almost uncharacteristically grippy on the finish, this is a gifted Lafite-Rothschild that will last 50+ years. It will certainly surpass the 2018 with continued bottle age. Drink 2029-2070. 96-98 Neal Martin – vinous.com (Juni 2020) The 2019 Lafite-Rothschild was picked from 19 September with the Merlots, pausing during a rainy spell and then picked through to 7 October. The blend includes what Eric Kohler calls "outsider" parcels that met the grade, including some of the Merlot on more clayey soils (see introduction) as well as 13.5% vin de presse. Alcohol here is some half a degree lower than many of its peers at around 13.4%. It has a very sensual bouquet, not a common feature in this First Growth, with generous black fruit infused with pencil box, sous-bois and discrete white pepper aromas. The oak is beautifully subsumed by the fruit already. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent, rounded tannins that lend this Lafite its creamy femme fatale texture and disguise its backbone. More powerful than expected, this builds in the mouth towards an atypically corpulent, dense finish that seems to "flow" across the senses. There is not a single hair out of place. I can envisage this firming up during its élevage and deserving more bottle age than seemingly appropriate at this juncture. Whatever its drinking plateau turns out to be, it is certainly a wonderful Lafite-Rothschild that pips the 2018 and revels in the growing season. Drink: 2029 - 2070. 98 Antonio Galloni – vinous.com (Februari 2022)) The 2019 Lafite-Rothschild is a mesmerizing wine that shows how compelling the vintage is on the Left Bank. Elegant, creamy and exquisitely layered, the 2019 Lafite conquers all the senses. There is tremendous density and power that belies the 12.8% alcohol, but then again, that can be the magic of Bordeaux. Classic Lafite red plum fruit, spice, cedar, licorice and rose petal linger on the striking, persistent finish. Drink 2029-2069. 96-98 Antonio Galloni – vinous.com (Juni 2020) The 2019 Lafite-Rothschild is sensual, alluring and simply breathtaking in its beauty. A vivid, towering Lafite, the 2019 simply has it all. Even with all of its intensity, the 2019 possesses striking minerality and tension that give the wine its sense of drive and precision. it is a stunning wine by any measure. The blend is 94% Cabernet 5% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, including some Merlot from clay-rich parcels that are new to the Grand Vin. 100 Wiliam Kelley - robertparker.com (April 2022) One of the greatest wines produced in Bordeaux this year is the 2019 Lafite Rothschild, an impeccably balanced classic of immense charm and grace. Wafting from the glass with arresting aromas of cassis, blackberries and cherries mingled with violets, cigar box and warm spices, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless, its velvety attack segueing into a layered, concentrated mid-palate framed by exquisitely powdery tannins and ripe acids, and concluding with a long, perfumed finish. This rivals the 2010 and 2016 as the greatest Lafite of the decade, and of those three vintages, it's clearly the most sensual and demonstrative out of the gates. The blend contains fully 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and attained a modest 13.4% alcohol. Drink 2029-2065. Today, Château Lafite Rothschild amounts to some 110 hectares planted to some 900,000 vines (including 4.5 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon in Saint-Estèphe). If that figure strikes readers as smaller than it used to be, that's because Lafite has ripped up some less optimally situated plots that never tended to produce wine fit for inclusion in the grand vin. As of 2021, what's more, organic conversion is underway (15 hectares are already farmed biodynamically), and hedges and flowering borders, planted with native species, now begin to break up the monoculture of the vine. Cover crops, too, have been added to the viticultural team's agronomic arsenal and are delivering good results in parcels with more humid or clay-rich soils. In the winery, Lafite is meticulously traditional: the grapes are sorted twice, once optically, and see a classical maceration in wooden and cement tanks with pump-overs and some use of the gentle "air pulse" system that disrupts the cap and oxygenates the ferment without the need for a full pump-over. Malolactic fermentation, as ever, is in tank, and the wine matures in barrels that are mostly produced in-house, with a light toast and favoring the forests of Allier and Nevers. Each vintage is racked three times, traditionally, with one egg white fining (which requires up to 8,000 eggs). As is the case almost everywhere in the Médoc, the tendency is for less and less Merlot in the assemblage. Eric Kohler describes 2019 as the ideal growing season, which saw a hydric deficit at just the right moment to precipitate ripening; and the result is a wine of irreproachable classicism and elegance. Whether the 2010, 2016 or 2019 Lafite ultimately emerges as the best of the decade is a question that well-heeled wine lovers will have immense pleasure debating over the decades to come, but it is clear that 2019 is the most sensual and aromatically expressive at an early age. It's one of the wines of the vintage. 97-99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown – robertparker.com (Juni 2020) The 2019 Lafite Rothschild is a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, harvested from the 19th of September to the 7th of October. Deep garnet-purple in color, it rolls effortlessly out of the glass with compelling notions of baked black cherries, ripe blackberries and crème de cassis followed by hints of mocha, licorice, smoked meats and Sichuan pepper with a waft of eucalyptus. Medium-bodied, the palate is at once ethereally graceful and powerfully intense, featuring layer upon layer of profound smoky, savory flavors and decadently ripe fruit, framed by exquisite, silt-like tannins and just enough freshness, finishing with epic length. In terms of flavor profile, this is a surprisingly (atypically) hedonic, forward expression, with notably lower acidity/higher pH (the pH is 3.9). The alcohol is 13.4%, just a tick higher than the 2018 (13.3%). And yet, the tannins here are unmistakably Lafite, featuring all the tannic grace, finesse and densely pixilated poise fans will expect. What an exciting paradox for the palate—bravo! 98 Jane Anson – decanter.com (Juni 2020) Performs the trick of being immediately succulent and mouthwatering while simultaneously revving up and building power through the palate. You're getting sapidity and savoury black fruits that are both elegant and full of power. The spicy rosemary and black pepper, with slate-textured minerality, is almost unnoticeable until it closes in on the final stretch, helping to stretch things out, beat by beat, adding energy and lift. One half of the 5% Merlot in this blend is from plots that have never before been used in Lafite's 1st wine, because their drone and satellite research discovered three tiny areas that were similar in character and could be vinified together. They have worked on this for the past three years, successfully so for first time in 2019. It just holds on tight, with a creaminess that you don't always find in Lafite at this early stage. A brilliant wine, one that could be upscored from this when in bottle. Harvest September 19 to October 7. Drinking Window: 2029 – 2048. 98-100 Jeb Dunnuck – jebdunnuck.com (Juni 2020) 19/20 James Lawther MW – jancisrobinson.com (Juni 2020) 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot. Barrel sample. Supreme elegance in the Lafite mould. Fresh and fragrant on the nose with mineral, cedar and dark-fruit notes. Poise and precision on the palate, the attack clean and direct, the tannins long and linear but enrobed in ripe fruit. Dense but with a reined-in discretion. Silky texture and overall great freshness. Just edges the 2018 for freshness and finesse. Drink 2030 – 2050. 100 James Suckling – jamessuckling.com (Februari 2022) 99-100 James Suckling – jamessuckling.com (Juni 2020) Complex aromas of blackcurrants and lead pencil. Incredible. Graphite and tar. Stunning. It’s full-bodied, yet shows such harmony and polish. Elegance and complexity with finesse. The tannins are so integrated and endless. It goes on for minutes. 94% cabernet sauvignon, 5% merlot and 1% petit verdot. 96 Jean-Marc Quarin – quarin.com (Juni 2020) 98-100 Jeff Leve – winecellarinsider.com (Juni 2020) Lafite RothschildLafite Rothschild is één van de machtigste “super-brands”, met “global demand” tot gevolg. Maar dit “best performing investment vehicle over the past decade” van 2011 is ook een grote wijn: al eeuwen lang aanzien als een koning onder koningen, brengt Lafite indrukwekkende bewaarwijnen van de allergrootste distinctie. 1953, 1959, 1986, 1996, 2003, 2009 en 2010 zijn referenties. Perfecte parkerscores gingen naar 1986, 1996 en 2003. Het domein bevat 103 hectare wijngaarden op het noordelijke punt van Pauillac, met zelfs enkele wijnstokken in Saint Estèphe. Het terroir van Graves is beplant met 78% Cabernet Cauvignon, 17% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc en 1% Petit Verdot. De tweede wijn heet Carruades de Lafite. Het Château staat tussen fraaie ceders op een terras, omheind door een balustrade in Louis XIV-stijl, en is sinds het Second Empire (1868) in handen van de Franse tak van de familie Rothschild. Sinds 1975 en zeker 1982 brachten Eric de Rothschild en wijnmaker Charles Chevalier de wijnen opnieuw op een weergaloos niveau. Saskia de Rothschild stuurt voortaan Lafite aan met een vernieuwd élan. Eerder was ze journalist voor New York Times, wereldreiziger en pende ze zelfs een eerste roman neer. Nu richt ze haar pijlen op Lafite Rotschild. Met zin voor het juiste woord volgt ze de evenementen nauwgezet op, met « le pouvoir des mots pour les qualifier ». Deze jonge dame heeft de toewijding van de jonge mama die ze ondertussen geworden is. Samen met Eric Kohler, wijnmaker sinds 2015, en Jean-Guillaume Prats, die eerder Cos d'Estournel groot maakte, verwachten wij van hen vele Grands Vins op Lafite! |