Château Lafite-Rothschild 2023

Profound, pure nobility, complex aromatic spectrum, clearly defined on the palate, discreet attack, it builds, shows drive and an impressive elegance. Dancelike, playful yet serious, endlessly long. Very Lafite. It will be a joy at every stage of its life.

93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot. 44 hl/ha. Cask sample. As always, elegant and refined. Fragrant nose and fine, filigree tannins. Really quite mellow but with freshness and length on the finish. Like a delicate piece of porcelain, though the structure is there. (JL)

The 2023 Lafite-Rothschild is a rich, heady wine. A rush of dark-toned fruit, cedar, leather, incense, grilled herbs, tobacco, and chocolate makes a strong opening statement. Powerful and quite tannic, the 2023 is going to need a few years to come into its own. Today, the Grand Vin is decidedly somber and brooding.

Flowers, black cherries, red and black currants, Cuban cigars, cedar, lead pencil, spice, and creme de cassis, fill the perfume. On the palate, the wine is elegant, refined, vibrant, and energetic. While the wine on your palate starts off slow, don't be fooled, because, while it might start off slow, it builds in intensity and depth as it lingers on your palate. Purity and elegance are perfectly balanced here from start to finish. The endnote goes on long after you've finished your glass. The wine blends 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot. Drink from 2032-2070.

Deep dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections, delicate edge brightening. Attractive cassis, blackberry, a delicate hint of liquorice, a touch of oak, mineral background. Powerful, taut, lively, fresh red-heart cherry, perfectly ripe tannins, mineral and very long-lasting, extremely elegant and precise, lingers for minutes, has great class. This is the style that has made Bordeaux great, with charm and energy, with power and great, assured ageing potential.

Reminding me of the 2019 with its modern yet ultra-classic style, the 2023 Château Lafite-Rothschild sports a gorgeous perfume of cassis, freshly sharpened lead pencil, tobacco, and loamy earth that gives it an utterly classic Pauillac profile and style. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has good concentration, ripe, polished tannins, flawless balance, and so much charm and accessibility. Based on 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot, drink this gorgeous Lafite over the coming 40-50 years. Drink 2026-2076.

93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot. What a seductive, densely interwoven perfume: fresh wild raspberry, sour cherry juice, graphite and blood orange zest. On the second nose, violet, mint and lilac. On the cascading palate, with a silky‑velvety texture, a tightly knit, ripe tannin frame and catapult‑like, energetic drive—immensely dense, profound and precise, a body like a mille‑feuille. In the explosive, never‑ending finish, raspberry purée and red currant—truly great Lafite, making it the best wine of the Left Bank!

An architectural Lafite that stretches out endlessly, crafted, delineated, powerful, sappy, with waves of salted cracked, graphite, crushed tobacco, mint leaf, cassis, squid ink, cocoa bean, campfire. Not the concentration of 2022, but in many ways showcasing the essence of Lafite more squarely, and this will delight anyone lucky enough to own it in future years. These Pauillac Firsts are all a little more closed down than I expected after experiencing them En Primeur - more like 2000 than 2001, and are seriously going to age well. 45hl/h yield, harvest September 7 to 29. 100% new oak. Eric Kohler director.

Score: 96–98. As is often the case at Lafite during en primeur, the nose is all restraint, with dark fruit that gradually gains power, a touch of graphite, and some earthy notes. On the palate, the wine is sumptuous, flowing, and dynamic, with an energizing, electric edge, carried by enticing fruit and flowers, followed by a divine saline finish with coffee notes. A gustatory apotheosis.

The nose is beautifully crafted, elegant and complex, with noble austerity, depth and a multi-layered character. It reveals notes of violet, boysenberry and pulpy raspberry, joined by touches of wild red berries, as well as fine hints of lilac, racy minerality, a delicate hint of cherry blossom and a discreet toasty note. The palate is beautifully mineral and offers freshness, tension, juiciness, precision and accuracy, a zesty backbone, a certain indulgence, and a lovely elongated/red-thread feel. It shows notes of juicy/pulpy blackberry, vibrant purple plum and, more lightly, bright raspberry, accented by touches of crushed red berries, along with hints of infusion, star anise, fine toasty nuances, nutmeg, fresh hazelnut, and in the background a subtle almost Bourbon-vanilla pod note. All in elegance and delicacy, with fine, precise creaminess, fresh and stretched. A certain suppleness at mid-palate. Freshness and a certain minerality, juiciness and an elongated, persistent profile; the tannins are sapid, elegant, precise, fine and relatively polished/supple.

93% Cabernet, 6% Merlot, and Petit Verdot—showing off at 90 years—adds a spice-like touch at 1%. The blend, very classic, reveals its full subtlety in a distinctive balance with great tannin integration, a spicy, zesty backbone that holds the wine, an acidity that appears at the attack then fades, a stretched, ultra-fine silk texture, and an endless finish. Majestic for the precision of its balance and the complementarity of its strengths. For Lafite, it’s an easy vintage. Marked by finesse, rare pepper and graphite flavors, and a spicy chew that settles on the finish. A combination of pedigree and class.

A clear contender for wine of the vintage. Deep, purple colour on the rim. Some soft herbal and floral aromatics, milk chocolate. A real sense of understated power as Lafite does so well. Not so demonstrative at all, but there’s a gorgeous charming delicacy to this - fine, powdery blue-fruit tannins with edges of liquorice and slate. Smooth and supple, excellent weight in the mouth, light and streamlined, less overt acidity and brightness than Carruades, but still with a mouthwatering core that gives strawberry and cherry fruit flavours. Ends with subtle graphite and wet stone, long and lingering though. Just delightful, so elegant and finessed. You can feel the density on the finish, the slight weight of the tannins comes at the end, bringing a controlled and quiet power. I love the sense of ease and seamlessness about this wine, it just slips down. 1% of very old Petit Verdot went into the blend this year. 15% press. 3.8 pH. 38% grand vin production. Ageing 90% new oak. A potential 100-point wine.

98-100. Barrel Sample. Ripe black fruit and dense spice aromas dominate this finely balanced wine. It has structured tannins and juicy black-currant flavors. Quantities are good and the estate seems to have won the race against mildew and heatwaves. This has the potential to be a great wine. Organic.

A truly fine symbiosis of ripeness and freshness, with nuances of ripe black berries, sweet spices and a touch of red berries. Lafite reveals itself gradually, with a certain restraint. It makes a delicate entrance before unveiling depth and power. It can rely on precious, assertive, powerful tannins that emerge very late and shore up the back of the palate with confidence and calm. The acidity also makes itself felt, bringing structure and vibrancy. The finish is all the more amplified and extended. A wine of remarkable beauty that sets the benchmark and opens up exceptional prospects. It is not yet where it can be, but it knows how to get there; time is an essential key! Sooner or later, the score will be three digits!

Deep, intense, beautiful dark red color with black highlights. Very aromatic nose, elegant, fruity, subtle, spicy and floral. Notes of ripe cherries and blackcurrant when the glass is swirled. A magical texture from the very first sip, then the body gains volume and lots of flavor. Complex, the wine slowly melts on the palate with the grace of the very greatest. It finishes deep and refined, a little more Pauillac than sometimes, but what flavor on the persistent finish!

Bottled a touch earlier than usual due to the extensive construction work that is ongoing at the estate, the 2023 Lafite Rothschild offers up notes of cassis and plums mingled with pencil shavings, spices and a subtle touch of fresh leather. Medium- to full-bodied, deep and layered, it's rich and youthfully structured, with supple, powdery tannins, lively acids and a sapid finish.