Carruades de Lafite (1.5 Liter Magnum) 2016
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Dunnuck
Jeb -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine - Decanter
Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
Blend: 49% Merlot, 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
While few people get excited about second wines, the reality today is that the top estates are making such a strict selection that their second wines are unquestionably equivalent to the grand vins of a few decades ago. Case in point: the 2016 Carruades de Lafite, a brilliant wine that stands up with the top wines in Pauillac. Offering a medium to full-bodied, seamless, incredibly pure style as well as classy black cherry fruits, graphite, licorice, and dried earth, it’s impeccably balanced, has no hard edges, and is already hard to resist. Drink it any time over the coming 20-25 years.
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James Suckling
Sweet-tobacco and berry aromas here with fresh herbs, too. Full-bodied, dense and chewy with a savory edge, bright acidity and a long, flavorful finish. Iron and graphite at the finish with Indian ink. Second wine of Château Lafite Rothschild. Try after 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 49% Merlot, 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, the deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Carruades de Lafite opens with expressive baked plums, Morello cherries and blackcurrant cordial scents with touches of stewed tea, bay leaves and tilled soil plus a waft of tree bark. Medium-bodied with a great mid-palate core of red and black fruits, it has a solid, grainy frame and compelling freshness, finishing long and minerally.
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Wine Enthusiast
This smoothly rich wine offers elegant tannins and spice as well as juicy acidity. With a good proportion of Merlot in the blend, the wine already shows great fruitiness as well as the intense freshness of the vintage. Drink this fine second wine of Lafite from 2023.
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Decanter
A little reserved - surprisingly so for Carruades at this stage - but then 2016 is an architectural vintage that's not overly generous when young. This is clearly built to last, with excellent quality, tight, well-polished tannins. It makes an impression and again shows what a successful vintage this is for second wines in Pauillac. 2% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Drinking Window 2024 - 2040
Other Vintages
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Suckling
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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.