Chateau Lafite Rothschild Premier Cru Classe, Pauillac 2001

The 2001 Lafite-Rothschild has a little more precision on the nose compared to the millennial Lafite. It’s vivid and focused, featuring blackberry, briar, cedar and mint, and a touch of cola in the background. The palate is well balanced and svelte in texture, building beautifully with aeration to a gorgeous, truffle-tinged finish that is a little spicier than three years ago, when I last tasted this vintage. Maybe it just tails off toward the finish when compared to the 2000. Still, this is an elegant, blue-blooded Lafite-Rothschild that exudes class.

Amazing finesse: lead pencil, cassis, cedar, and unforgettable. A very underrated vintage.

Drink 2016 - 2075

(86% cabernet sauvignon and 14% merlot) Very good medium bright ruby. Cool, reserved aromas of cassis, violet, bitter chocolate, licorice, camphor, mint and minerals. Quite austere and tightly wound, but with plenty of density; coats the palate in a way that very few wines from this vintage do. Vibrant acidity gives the wine lovely inner-mouth perfume. Very subtle and aristocratic, finishing impressively long, with fine, horizontal tannins and no hardness. Does not appear to have quite the density or grip of the 2000, but then this wine is often quite closed in on itself in the early going.

The 2001 Lafite Rothschild’s deep, saturated plum/purple color is accompanied by lead pencil liqueur-like notes intermixed with sweet red and black currants, plums, and cedar. This blend of 86.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13.5% Merlot is a classic example of Lafite. Extremely elegant, medium-bodied, with intense concentration, richness, and sweet tannin, it appears to be on a rapid evolutionary track, at least in comparison to recent Lafite vintages that have been far more backward and powerful. The classy 2001 should be at its finest between 2007-2020.