Winemaker Notes
Blend: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The currants, cedar and violets are very bright on the nose, with sandalwood undertones and pencil shavings. This is medium-bodied, beautiful and firm, with finesse and real Lafite character for their second wine. Racy at the end. Drinkable now but even better in three or four years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Cherries and ripe black-currants give this second-label wine a generous, open character. It is succulent with rich tannins and pure black-currant acidity. This is sure to age well. Drink from 2028.
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Decanter
Ripe, dark perfumed blackcurrant and black cherries on the nose. Fragrant but also herbal, liquorice, clove, tobacco and toast. Supple and juicy on the palate, a lovely sense of life and energy to this straight away. Gorgeous texture, full and expansive in the mouth with gently plush and crushed velveted tannins. Feels like a serious wine with a great fresh backbone of lively acidity, ripe fruit and structured tannins. I love the high acidity and sense of explosion you get here. Raspberry, red cherry and blackcurrant - so red and black fruits with tinges and hints of liquorice, cola and mint around the edges. Really nuanced but very approachable. Fun with clarity and precision. Such a clear palate. A lively baby brother.
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Vinous
The 2021 Carruades de Lafite is gorgeous. Supple, dynamic and lively, the 2021 pulses with energy. It's a wine of vibrancy. Dark cherry fruit, plum, grilled herbs and graphite all build effortlessly in the glass. There's a bit of graininess in the tannin, yet all the elements are impeccably balanced. There's a ton to like, that's for sure. –Antonio Galloni
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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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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.
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.