Chateau Lafite Rothschild - Carruades de Lafite 2019

JAMES SUCKLING: "This is a beautiful Carraudes with currant, sweet-tobacco and wet-earth aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied with a dense center-palate and tight, polished tannins. Fresh, with tension. Reminds me of the 1995 Lafite. This is so Lafite in character. It shows so much cabernet sauvignon character. It’s 68% cabernet sauvignon, 27% merlot and the rest cabernet franc. Try after 2026."

DECANTER: "Ripe nose, so fresh and alive with beautiful cherry perfumed aromas too. This has a lovely, almost sweet, aspect to the fruit on the palate with high acidity making you salivate. High toned blackcurrants and red cherries are supported by soft tannins and gentle licks of liquorice and coffee. A wine you just want to drink now as it's so appealing with freshness and lift but it has the sides of spice that give it structure and make you realise it's still powerful and will age so well. The finish is cool and lifted. Poise and persistence - a tantalising Carruades. Drinking Window 2027 - 2044"

FALSTAFF: "Dunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, dezente Randaufhellung. Schokoladig unterlegte reife schwarze Beerenfrucht, Nuancen von Herzkirschen und Brombeeren, zarte Edelholznuancen. Am Gaumen saftig und seidig, feine Tannine, elegant, reife Kirschen, zart nach Zwetschken, dezenter Nougattouch im Abgang, bereits gut entwickelt und sehr einladend, ein facettenreicher Speisenbegleiter, verfügt über gutes Entwicklungspotenzial."

JEB DUNNUCK: "The 2019 Carruades de Lafite tastes like a mini-Lafite, offering beautiful currant, tobacco, cedar pencil, and spicy nuances in a medium-bodied, pure, elegant package. Based on 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc (which is a very high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon), this seamless 2019 has remarkable purity and precision, as well as length. It tastes more like a Grand Vin than a second wine."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Elegant and fresh, this baby Lafite offers flowers, sweet, lifted red currants, red plums, tobacco leaf and a touch of spicy cranberry on the nose and palate. Medium-bodied, vibrant, crisp, refined and a bit reserved, the wine finishes a mélange of crisp, fresh, red fruits, spices and savory herbs. Drink from 2026-2040."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2019 Carruades de Lafite is rich and expansive, bursting with aromas of ripe berries, violets, spice box, cedar and cassis. Medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, it's broad and generous, with a more exotic, extravagant profile than the grand vin but also levels of concentration and character that exceed what was the case a decade ago. In recent years, Lafite has actually ripped up parcels that routinely never made it into the grand vin—and the grand vin now includes more and more Cabernet Sauvignon. Even if Carruades now contains less Merlot than was historically the case (27% in 2019), I suspect it's benefiting from the inclusion of Merlot that would have formerly made it into the assemblage of Lafite itself."

WEINWISSER: "Tasted blind. Warm, intense nose. Neat and aromatic and pretty. Really nice wine, even if not the most concentrated or longest-lived."

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: "The 2019 Carruades de Lafite, a blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-purple in color. Notions of sauteed herbs, damp soil, and tapenade waft from the glass over a core of redcurrant preserves, baked plums, and tilled soil. The medium-bodied palate is chewy and subtly fruited, with a soft-spoken finish."