Carruades de Lafite (Futures Pre-Sale) 2021
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Suckling
James - Decanter
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Parker
Robert -
Dunnuck
Jeb
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Soft and attractive character to this wine, showing a polished-tannin frame and a juicy center-palate. Medium body with medium, velvety tannins. Juicy.
Barrel Sample: 94-95 -
Decanter
Sweet black cherries and plums on the nose with blackcurrant leaf touches. Excellent intensity and vibrancy here, you really feel the energy - acidity is good but you get the rush of fruits and the persistence that says; 'I've got so much life in me and I want to show it off' - this is ready and raring to go! It's well worked with fine tannins and a long finish. The power and structure is there - it's just super explosive at this point. You almost want to enjoy this now, or certainly soon, but it'll go the distance too. Punchy with a joyous spirit! 4% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Drinking Window: 2025 - 2039.
Barrel Sample: 92 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Carruades de Lafite is mostly composed of the younger replacement vines dotted throughout Lafite's vineyards on the plateau, which are harvested separately. Offering up aromas of red berries, cassis, cedar box and orange rind, it's medium to full-bodied, lively and layered, with good concentration and a long, penetrating finish. It's a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc, part of which was matured in wooden vats rather than barriques.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Lafite's second wine, the 2021 Carraudes De Lafite should be solid, offering lots of pure cassis and graphite aromatics as well as medium-bodied richness on the palate. Based on 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it shines for its elegant, seamless profile and it has a little of that Lafite power-without-weight style. Barrel Sample 89-91
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One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
The leader on the Left Bank in number of first growth classified producers within its boundaries, Pauillac has more than any of the other appellations, at three of the five. Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild border St. Estephe on its northern end and Chateau Latour is at Pauillac’s southern end, bordering St. Julien.
While the first growths are certainly some of the better producers of the Left Bank, today they often compete with some of the “lower ranked” producers (second, third, fourth, fifth growth) in quality and value. The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification that goes back to 1855. The finest chateaux in that year were judged on the basis of reputation and trading price; changes in rank since then have been miniscule at best. Today producers such as Chateau Pontet-Canet, Chateau Grand Puy-Lacoste, Chateau Lynch-Bages, among others (all fifth growth) offer some of the most outstanding wines in all of Bordeaux.
Defining characteristics of fine wines from Pauillac (i.e. Cabernet-based Bordeaux Blends) include inky and juicy blackcurrant, cedar or cigar box and plush or chalky tannins.
Layers of gravel in the Pauillac region are key to its wines’ character and quality. The layers offer excellent drainage in the relatively flat topography of the region allowing water to run off into “jalles” or streams, which subsequently flow off into the Gironde.