Château LAFITE-ROTHSCHILD 2019

Description

Jean-Marc Quarin 99 points  www.quarin.com
Couleur sombre, intense et belle. Nez intense, fin, fruité, pur, mûr et subtil. Minutieux à l’attaque, de suite aérien au développement, savoureux et raffiné de part en part, le vin caresse et va même crescendo en finale dans une grande longueur, noble et subtile. Un délice incrachable. Assemblage : 91 % cabernet sauvignon, ,5 % merlot, 0,5 % petit verdot. Degré d’alcool : 13°3 (moyenne plus), c’est le miracle de ce vin. A lui tout seul, il représente la quintessence des vins de Bordeaux, soit cette capacité unique à mûrir ses raisins sans les rendre alcoologènes. pH : 3,8 (moyenne). IPT : 73 (moyenne plus). Sélection : 40 % de premier vin.

Yves Beck 98-100 points www.yvesbeck.wine
94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot
Pourpre violacé. Que de finesse, de subtilité dans ce bouquet où d’élégantes notes végétales accompagnent de classiques effluves fruités tels que cassis et myrtilles. Les notes de cèdre et de graphite ne manquent pas à l’appel et il est bien de le souligner ! En bouche le vin est imposant au travers de sa finesse… il faut quand-même le faire ! Imposant car il revendique cette notion de force tranquille avec brio et sérénité et impressionnant par la force de ses tannins qui révèlent leur ampleur en fin de bouche. Ils sont de pair avec la structure acide qui confère du muscle tandis que les tannins assurent l’assise du vin. Un Lafite tout en finesse avec une très belle symbiose entre fraîcheur et charme.  2026-2049

Lisa Perrotti-Brown 97-99 points www.erobertparker.com
The 2019 Lafite Rothschild is a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, harvested from the 19th of September to the 7th of October. Deep garnet-purple in color, it rolls effortlessly out of the glass with compelling notions of baked black cherries, ripe blackberries and crème de cassis followed by hints of mocha, licorice, smoked meats and Sichuan pepper with a waft of eucalyptus. Medium-bodied, the palate is at once ethereally graceful and powerfully intense, featuring layer upon layer of profound smoky, savory flavors and decadently ripe fruit, framed by exquisite, silt-like tannins and just enough freshness, finishing with epic length. In terms of flavor profile, this is a surprisingly (atypically) hedonic, forward expression, with notably lower acidity/higher pH (the pH is 3.9). The alcohol is 13.4%, just a tick higher than the 2018 (13.3%). And yet, the tannins here are unmistakably Lafite, featuring all the tannic grace, finesse and densely pixilated poise fans will expect. What an exciting paradox for the palate—bravo!
The Merlot in the 2019 grand vin is a “new wine” of Merlot for Lafite, according to technical director Eric Kohler. “Before, we only had three tanks of Merlot to choose from,” he explained. “Often, it was the same choice. Now, we have identified three plots of Merlot to co-vinify. The amounts were too little to be vinified separately, so they used to go into the blends. This makes a new Merlot lot for us. This year, this Merlot blend was just perfect for the grand vin. This addition of the new Merlot helped keep the balance.” Regarding the 2019 vintage of Lafite’s very popular second wine: “This is the first time we used this much Cabernet Sauvignon in the Carruades blend,” Kohler told me. Usually it is more like 55% Cabernet with more Merlot. It is even more like Lafite this year!”

Jane Anson 98 points  www.decanter.com (at Bordeaux, 25 May 2020)
Performs the trick of being immediately succulent and mouthwatering while simultaneously revving up and building power through the palate. You’re getting sapidity and savoury black fruits that are both elegant and full of power. The spicy rosemary and black pepper, with slate-textured minerality, is almost unnoticeable until it closes in on the final stretch, helping to stretch things out, beat by beat, adding energy and lift. One half of the 5% Merlot in this blend is from plots that have never before been used in Lafite’s 1st wine, because their drone and satellite research discovered three tiny areas that were similar in character and could be vinified together. They have worked on this for the past three years, successfully so for first time in 2019. It just holds on tight, with a creaminess that you don’t always find in Lafite at this early stage. A brilliant wine, one that could be upscored from this when in bottle. Harvest September 19 to October 7. Drinking Window 2029 – 2048

Neal Martin 96-98 points www.vinous.com
The 2019 Lafite-Rothschild was picked from 19 September with the Merlots, pausing during a rainy spell and then picked through to 7 October. The blend includes what Eric Kohler calls “outsider” parcels that met the grade, including some of the Merlot on more clayey soils (see introduction) as well as 13.5% vin de presse. Alcohol here is some half a degree lower than many of its peers at around 13.4%. It has a very sensual bouquet, not a common feature in this First Growth, with generous black fruit infused with pencil box, sous-bois and discrete white pepper aromas. The oak is beautifully subsumed by the fruit already. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent, rounded tannins that lend this Lafite its creamy femme fatale texture and disguise its backbone. More powerful than expected, this builds in the mouth towards an atypically corpulent, dense finish that seems to “flow” across the senses. There is not a single hair out of place. I can envisage this firming up during its élevage and deserving more bottle age than seemingly appropriate at this juncture. Whatever its drinking plateau turns out to be, it is certainly a wonderful Lafite-Rothschild that pips the 2018 and revels in the growing season.

Antonio Galloni 96-98 points www.vinous.com
The 2019 Lafite-Rothschild is sensual, alluring and simply breathtaking in its beauty. A vivid, towering Lafite, the 2019 simply has it all. Even with all of its intensity, the 2019 possesses striking minerality and tension that give the wine its sense of drive and precision. it is a stunning wine by any measure. The blend is 94% Cabernet 5% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, including some Merlot from clay-rich parcels that are new to the Grand Vin.
Technical Director Eric Kohler describes 2019 as an easier vintage than 2018, a year that saw quite a bit of disease pressure and extremes of temperature. Kohler added that while 2019 was hot, it was consistently hot, and therefore the vines adapted to the conditions as opposed to being shocked by sudden changes. Yields were a very classic 36-40 hectoliters per hectare, depending on the property. Cuvaison was about three weeks, with gentle extractions. As always one of the signatures at Lafite is the use of a portion of press lots in the final blends.