 | 2020 Carruades de Lafite - Pauillac | € 293,00 (€ 354,53) |
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Carruades de Lafite is het hebbeding bij uitstek voor elke collector. De tweede wijn van Lafite is bijgevolg ook een prima beleggingswijn. Het wint steeds aan waarde met de jaren, alsof Electrabel nog op de Continu-markt zou staan met een gecapitaliseerde dividendstroom. En het is nog goed ook... IN DE PERS 89-91 Neal Martin – vinous.com (Mei 2021) The 2020 Carruades de Lafite is clean and precise on the nose, the undergrowth/autumn leaf scents permeating the predominantly black fruit, and light peppermint aromas unfurling with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and a fine bead of acidity. Quite linear in style, particularly toward the finish, where it seems to not want to put a foot wrong. A Deuxième Vin that just needs to loosen its tie and let it all hang out a bit more. Drink 2024-2034. 91-93 Antonio Galloni – vinous.com (Mei 2021) The 2020 Carruades de Lafite is so expressive right out of the gate. Sage, mint, dried herbs, tobacco and incense grace the Carruades with gorgeous aromatic presence. A backbone of fine tannins lends energy and direction. Medium in body and impeccably refined, the 2020 Carruades is shaping up to be a gem. Drink 2027-2040. 92 Jane Anson – decanter.com (Mei 2021) 91 William Kelley – robertparker.com (April 2023) A blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 2020 Carruades de Lafite offers up aromas of dark berries, cassis, cigar wrapper, violets and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, broad and fleshy, it's a rich, gourmand wine, some 20% of which was matured in tank. Drink 2023-2040. 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. 91-93 Lisa Perrotti-Brown – robertparker.com (Mei 2021) Deep purple-black in color, the 2020 Carruades de Lafite, like its big sibling, is a little youthfully shy to begin, soon unfurling to offer notes of Morello cherries, raspberry leaves, baked blackberries and spice box, plus suggestions of pencil lead, lavender and Provence herbs. The medium-bodied palate is chock-full of juicy black fruits, framed by velvety tannins and tons of freshness, finishing long and lifted. This 2020 is a blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. Drink 2026-2042. Saskia de Rothschild, chairwoman of Domaines Barons de Rothschild, began by saying, “We had to do a lot of reorganization with the pandemic. It was a very precocious vintage. In mid-March, we had to plan ahead and control the vegetative cycle that had already started. The warm spring and the bouts of rain meant there was a lot of organizing to control the mildew. We had to train the cellar teams to learn which shoot to choose in shoot thinning.” The mildew situation early in the 2020 growing season coupled with the unprecedented COVID lockdown restrictions posed a challenge. Although Lafite is not certified organic, they have been practicing organic methods and are planning to enter into the official organic conversion period (a period of three years) from this year. “We want to consider each vineyard an ecosystem,” Saskia said. “We want to be able to do more. Even with cover crops, for example, or massal selection—it is a collection of practices that give the best expression of terroir.” Like everywhere in Bordeaux in 2020, Pauillac entered a period of extreme drought from mid-June to mid-August. “In mid-August, we finally had a lot of rain in Pauillac,” Technical Director Eric Kohler explained. “One hundred millimeters (about four inches) came down. It was a godsend. We had lower alcohol, but we had very intense flavors. The wine is a paradox: it is powerful, but not heavy. We would rather have a lack of ripeness than over-maturation. I think this is the first time we have such contrasts—wines so different from the climate. The rains meant we kept the balance and freshness.” 96-97 James Suckling – jamessuckling (April 2021) 92-94 Jeb Dunnuck – jebdunnuck.com (Mei 2021) 92-94 Jeff Leve – winecellarinsider.com (Mei 2021) 91-93 lefigaro.fr (Mei 2021) 92-94 Yohan Castaing - anthocyanes.fr (Mei 2021) 93-95 Alexandre Ma (Mei 2021) 93-94 Bettane & Desseauve (Mei 2021) 91 Jean-Marc Quarin – quarin.fr (Mei 2021) 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! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||