Bestpolar

9.5

Limited edition number 0 0 1 0 5 3
medaille bronze concours general agricole Paris 2002
Christmas Day 2024
Richmond Deborah Tig Joseph Xavier Wups — a year ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

It’s 1/2 bottle n/v Billecart evening.

This is a more appropriate color of rose for the Rosé color of this champagne.

My go to n/v Rosé Champange for a number of reasons…quality & 1/2 bottle availability are right up there.

Blood orange, black cherries, Rainer cherries, lean strawberries, pomegranate juice, hints of raw rhubarb, grainy, grippy, sharp chalkiness, crunchy volcanics, limestone, sea fossils, baguette crust, deep white spice, orange lilies, peach roses, excellent, lively acidity with a rich, well balanced smart finish that starts clean, ripe fruits falling onto perfect minerality. — 5 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.0

My first bottle opening of a 2009 Bordeaux. We’ve tasted a number of 2009’s, this is the first one we’ve opened. Showing the glory of 2009, even in a lesser bottling. I’ll say it again, for the value buyer of Bordeaux’s, buy good producers second, third or other wines. 2009, perhaps, the best Bordeaux vintage since 1982.

Good first look to judge better more expensive, quality producers of 2009 Bordeaux wines for when to best open your first. I would say those need another 8-10 years more in bottle to have them fully shine to buying expectations.

Family member from the Jean-Michel Cazes family that brings us Lynch Bages.

The 2009 shows better on its own than with our Wagyu Ribcap.

It simply shows the elegant beauty of the vintage. It brings similarities to 1982.

It shows velvet tannins with ripe, ruby fruits of; blackberries, black raspberries, black cherries, poached strawberries & raspberries. Bay leaf, wet clay, dark spice with heat, limestone, dry, crushed rocks, nutmeg, clove, soft cinnamon & understated vanillin, black licorice, dry twig, spearmint, tough leather, dry tobacco, graphite, oak barrel shavings with fresh & slightly withering; dark, red, purple florals. Acidity for days. Straight up; lush, well knitted and balanced finish that persists nicely for minutes.

Photos of; Chateau Ormes de Pez, Saint-Estephe vineyard, inside the Chateau-breakfast room and their barrel room.

1/15/21 — 5 years ago

Patricia Schnitzer

9.2

May 30, 2020. Birthday celebration w/ Jack D & KK. Jack D brought the wine. This was bottle number 2. Ah, Pauillac, how I love thee. Deep purple. Very aromatic — leather, cocoa, anise, stewed black fruit. We decanted 1-2 hours. Although young, very drinkable. Will be even more awesome in 5-10 years. — 6 years ago

EatSommThings (Jimmy)

8.9

6/15 blind tasting wine number 1 - — 7 years ago

with Diana

Liz Gmoser

9.0

A nice full-bodied, fruity red that was delicious with dinner! — 8 years ago

Gay4Rosé

10

My number 1 — 8 years ago

Roman Sukley

10

2002 Sine Qua Non “Just For The Love Of It” Syrah. 15.2% Alcohol. So I have a confession to make. When this wine was released and Mr. Parker rated it 100 points (and correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this might have been the first Parker SQN 100 pointer), I couldn’t wait to pull the cork. And when I did, I was totally.......underwhelmed! I began questioning Parker. Questioning Manfred. Questioning my palate. What was I missing? What was my problem? Could I continue on in this world? Well, I never did reconcile things, and then “Papa” was released and all was right with the world again. So here we are, 15 years hence, and I’m here to report that Mr. Parker knew what he was talking about after all. We’re talking absolute perfection screaming from my Zalto stem. Notes of exotic flowers, toasty oak, anise and spice box on the nose. Just gorgeous. I could swirl and sniff all evening. On the palate, a predominance of sweet black currant, white pepper, blackberries and plum jam. Juicy, opulent, intense, pure. Stunning really. Endless finish. I haven’t tasted this wine in ten years because as I said, it never impressed me. But it just jumped up to co-number 1 SQN Syrah with me along with “Poker Face” and “The 17th Nail In My Cranium.” One addendum to Mr. Parker’s review which stated this wine would drink well for 10-15 years. This piece of art is just getting started! Remember, “...never for money.” — 9 years ago

Lee Pitofsky

9.8

(Disgorged 2/15)- Always and forever my number 1 Lieux-Dits and without question one of the very best Blanc de Blancs Champagnes on the planet, tonight it is extra special with its coveted 2008 base and 2015 disgorgement. Always with imposing power, drive and crazy depth to its layers, it unfurls in a Burgundy glass to reveal its complex core of rich orchard fruit, roasted nuts, gun smoke, toasty oak and candied white flowers, all with seamless integration and balance. The palate is generous and detailed, with ripping citrusy acids, waves of saline laced chalky Le Mesnil minerals and a finish that just keeps going. For me, a BdB benchmark. — 4 years ago

Ryan Breau

10

Always a number 1 choice for wine for me. Just enough bubbles with more juicy undertones and less wine flavour. Lower in alcohol but wouldn’t deter me. — 5 years ago

Mario Vaillancourt

9.0

I miss the tastings with this semi-confinement we are still in and stole the idea of @Benoit Duhamel here, so we made one at home with my son and my wife who are both wine fanatics as I am too. We chose 6 red Burgundies Villages 2017, 3 Côtes de Beaune and 3 Côte de Nuits and we tasted these blind, each of us giving ranks and points for each wines. Tasting blind usually doesn’t lie and it can bring numerous surprises which it did in that case. All wines were fo a good level here, no bad wines and all were fun and good indiviually but the results were pretty clear cut in terms of the Côte de Beaune winning this battle.

1- Chassagne-Montrachet villages 2017 Jean-Claude Ramonet 32 pts
2- Volnay Vieilles Vignes 2017, Henri DeLaGrange 28 pts
3- Auxey-Duresses Très Vieilles Vignes 2017, Alain Gras 26 pts
4- Chambolle-Musigny Les Véroilles 2017, Bruno Clair 20 pts
5- Gevrey-Chambertin 2017, Lucien Boillot 12 pts
6- Gevrey-Chambertin 2017 Les Évocelles, Louis Boillot 8 pts

DelaGrange: spices and a touch animal too on the nose. Vivid acidity with a nice medium bodied structure, very balanced, good length and delicious finish. My number 3. 90-91


On s’ennuie des dégustations et j’ai bien aimé l’idée de @Benoit Duhamel , merci Benoit. Alors s’en est fait une à la maison à trois (en respectant les règles bien sûr). Nous avons choisi 6 Bourgogne Villages Rouges 2017, 3 Côtes de Beaune et 3 Côtes de Nuits, nous avons dégusté à l'aveugle et accordé des points à chaque position, il n’y avait aucun mauvais vin dans le lot et tous étaient très bien si bu individuellement, mais la dégustation à l’aveugle ne ment pas et les résultats peuvent être surprenants, les vins de la Côte de Beaune ont remporté la palme facilement ici, alors pour s’amuser un peu, voici le classement que cela a donné :
1- Chassagne-Montrachet villages 2017 Jean-Claude Ramonet 32 pts
2- Volnay Vieilles Vignes 2017, Henri DeLaGrange 28 pts
3- Auxey-Duresses Très Vieilles Vignes 2017, Alain Gras 26 pts
4- Chambolle-Musigny Les Véroilles 2017, Bruno Clair 20 pts
5- Gevrey-Chambertin 2017, Lucien Boillot 12 pts
6- Gevrey-Chambertin 2017 Les Évocelles, Louis Boillot 8 pts

DelaGrange: Fruits noirs, épices, une touche animale aussi. Belle structure de corps moyen avec une acidité vive, bel équilibre et assez long en bouche. Mon no 3 personnellement. 90-91 — 6 years ago

Jim Chen

9.0

Crisp and racy. Pairing it with pho number 1 tasting! — 7 years ago

Gilbert Van Hassel

9.6

Outstanding, great trempanillo with 5 to 10 pct merlot. Smokey, forward fruit, very well integrated oak. Would be a number 1 wine for most not for Vega. Truly great. — 7 years ago

JKT

9.2

CVed 1/14/17 burg. Number five. Good complex nose of fruits and minerals and earth forest floor. Medium body with complex and balanced palate of fruits and acids and minerals with bite and texture. Long finish that's actually delicious.
Again CVed 1/16/18. A mini vertical of '02-'03-'05. In context of the others it is much more robust with very firm texture. That bite. Needs more time. Indeed the vintage. — 8 years ago

Martinez

9.1

Jaboulet’s top white Hermitage. Blend of 2/3 Marsanne and 1/3 Roussanne, from 35 years old vines on limestone soils. (For a number of years, there was a cuvée of 100% Marsanne known as La Chapelle blanc, discontinued since 2014). Partially fermented and aged in concrete eggs and some 600-liter oak barrels. Elegant, complex nose with aromas of pear, some citrus and lots of minerals (crushed stones). Beeswax and floral notes. Full-bodied, oily, enough acidity, good freshness. — 5 years ago

Mario Vaillancourt

9.4

Tasted blind, 3 very different wines but all 3 were excellent and showed their character well.
At first the nose is more discrete but opens up to gorgeous red and dark fruits, some cinnamon and spices, earthy slightly too. The palate is gorgeous, medium plus bodied and more but with such class and elegance, a slight noble oaky feel but nothing too much, fresh, elegant, great balance and a long grippy yet classy finish. Number one for all 3 tasters. 93-94

Dégustation de 3 magnifiques vins différents en semi aveugle.
Nez discret au départ pour se révéler ensuite avec du fruit rouge et noir, de la cannelle et des épices avec un côté légèrement terreux. Une bouche sérieuse, puissante et équilibrée, le fruit est magnifique, frais, élégant malgré cette puissance bien présente, une finale très longue et délicieuse. Numéro 1 pour les 3 dégustateurs, superbe vin. 93-94
— 5 years ago

Patricia Schnitzer

9.5

June 6, 2020. Dinner w/ J2 and Jack D. Amarone night. This was number 1. Purchased at the vineyard May 30,2019 after a tasting there. This wine is so good. Deep red, raisin, cherry, smooth tannins. A beautiful Amarone. Need to return to Fumane for more! — 6 years ago

Shay A

9.4

An absolutely stunning lunch from @joe leatherwood today. 1 sparkler, 2 whites, 5 reds and 1 dessert wine. All served blind.

You know you are living right when this wine is probably number five out of five reds on the table. Sounds like a slight, but with two old vintages of Insignia, older Masseto, and older Haut Brion, that’s stiff competition. Compared to those other four reds, there was more sweet fruit here. Dark fruit has softened to more of a black cherry medley, but the red fruit is still nicely tart and youthful. I picked up licorice and juicy blackberries here, both of which took me to South America for my guess. Not much herbal or secondary notes here...impressive fruit at 17yrs. — 7 years ago

with joe, Dan and 1 other

Jerry Raphael

8.9

Thanksgiving wine number 1 — 8 years ago

with Barbara

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.1

On the nose, ripe; blackberries, sweet & sour dark cherries, cooked cherries & strawberries & hues of blueberries. Black tea, cola, soft baking spices; vanilla, light clove & cinnamon. Crushed rocks, stones, limestone, turned, moist black earth, tobacco leaf, saddle-wood, soft leather, dry & fresh dark red florals.

The body is medium edging toward full. The tannins pretty well resolved. The ripe fruits show the hot, ripe vintage. Blackberries, sweet & sour dark cherries, cooked cherries & strawberries & hues of blueberries black tea, cola, soft baking spices; vanilla, light clove & cinnamon. Crushed rocks, stones, limestone, tobacco with ash, some graphite, soft medium dark spice, turned, forest floor, powdery but edgy minerals, saddle-wood, soft leather, dry & fresh dark red florals with some violets on the finish.

This showed better with Ribeye. The Ribeye brought out a fuller, richer wine with even more complexity. 9.35-9.4 with the Ribeye. It just missed 9.2 on its own. It’s big brother the 03 “Lafite” is 💯 point Parker wine.

Photos of; Chateau Lafite, their oak vat fermenters, Estate wine and their magnificent barrel room.

Interesting history and producers notes...Lafite Rothschild has a long and interesting history dating back to 1234, even though the property was not in the Bordeaux wine business at that time.

It is has been largely believed that vines were already planted on their terroir. The owner of the estate at the time, Gombaud de Lafite left his mark, his name. Almost 1,000 years after he owned it, the Chateau is still named after him! The vines were probably in existence at Lafite for over a century, it was not until around 1680, the majority of vineyards of what we know of as Lafite Rothschild today were created. This is because on the 1680 estate manifest, there are six mentions of their Bordeaux vineyards. Jacques de Segur, earns credit for cultivating the vineyard as I wrote in my Colon Segur post last weekend. In 1695, Alexandre de Segur married Marie-Therese de Clauzel, heiress to Chateau Latour. So to dovetail that write up, within a generation, the Segur family married into two of the greatest Bordeaux vineyards, Chateau Lafite and Chateau Latour! When their son, Nicolas-Alexandre passed away, Chateau Lafite and Chateau Latour were separated.

In 1797, Chateau Lafite was sold again. In the deed of sale, Chateau Lafite was described as a Premier Cru of Medoc. This is one of the earliest mentions of what we know of today as Lafite Rothschild producing wines of what would later be classified as an 1855 First Growth.

At that time, of Lafite were managed by the Goudal family. The Goudal family were wine historians and were able to read accurate records and details of the viticulture and marketing plans for Chateau Lafite in the estates formative years. The Goudal family gets the credit for creating the cellar and saving many of the oldest bottles that remain in the cold, dark cellars, including their oldest bottle, the 1797 Lafite!

The start of the famous Rothschild family begins in 1744, with the birth of Amschel Meyer. Amschel Meyer began creating his fortune while working as a merchant at “Zum Roten Schild,” which eventually became the family name of Rothschild.

In 1798 his sons were sent to various cities to create their fortunes. Needless to say, his sons all prospered as did their children in turn. This eventually led to them wanting to own a Chateau in Bordeaux. So in 1853, Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild, an English member of the Rothschild family, purchased Chateau Brane-Mouton. As was the custom of the day, the new owner renamed it using his name and Chateau Mouton Rothschild was born.

This was followed in 1868, when James Rothschild, another member of the family purchased Chateau Lafite, which was now a coveted First Growth.

On 8 August, 1868, Baron James d’Rothschild purchased Chateau Lafite, which was sold at a public auction in Paris. It’s assumed, he bought the property for family competitive reasons looking to one up his brother, the owner of Mouton Rothschild. At that time, Mouton Rothschild was only a Second Growth at the time. But, that does not paint the entire picture. The 1855 Classification had not taken on the importance associated with it the we see it today. Plus, buying Lafite was a reasonable investment as the vineyard sold for about 8 times its earning potential.

The actual Chateau is one of the older structures in Bordeaux, as part of the building dates back to the later part of the 16th century. In 1868, the vineyard took up 135 hectares, of which 74 hectares were cultivated with vines. Production was much smaller in those days than it is today as it was between 4,000 and 5,000 cases.

Just three months after the purchase, Baron James d’Rothschild passed away and Chateau Lafite Rothschild became the joint property of his three sons; Alphonse Rothschild, Gustave Rothschild & Edmond Rothschild. Since 1868, Chateau Lafite Rothschild has remained in the hands of the of Rothschild family. The new owners renamed the estate Chateau Lafite Rothschild.

Jumping ahead to the modern age, in 1962, the Rothschild family added to their holdings when they purchased Chateau Duhart-Milon, a Fourth Growth vineyard also located in Pauillac. It was owned by the Casteja family for more than a century, Chateau Duhart Milon suffered from neglect and was in a awful condition. By the time Duhart Milon was obtained by the Rothschild family, the vineyard was down to only 17 hectare which required extensive renovations.

Baron Eric Rothschild, nephew of Baron Elie Rothschild, took over the management of Lafite Rothschild in 1974. Baron Eric Rothschild was part of the fifth Rothschild generation to inherit Chateau Lafite Rothschild. In 1984, the Rothschild family added to their holdings in Bordeaux with the purchase of Chateau Rieussec in Sauternes.

1987 was a difficult vintage, but because that was the year Lafite celebrated the inauguration of their wine new cellar, they had a lot to be excited about.

The new cellars were built under the supervision of Catalan architect Ricartdo Bofill, is both underground and circular, with a vault supported by 16 columns, giving the structure a majestic architectural style. The cellar holds 2,200 barrels, which is about 55,000 cases of wine. The construction took two years to finish and was completed in 1988.

Domaines Baron Rothschild became one of the first Bordeaux properties to invest in South America when they purchased Vina Los Vascos from a Chilean family. The owners of Lafite Rothschild continued expanding their holdings with the purchase of Chateau lEvangile in Pomerol from the Ducasse family, who owned the property for almost 100 years.

The wine making at Chateau Lafite Rothschild was managed by Charles Chevallier, who began his position in 1994. Charles Chevallier was replaced by Eric Kohler in January 2016. 2017 saw another change at the estate when Jean Guillaume Prats replaced Christopher Salin as the President of Domaines Baron Rothschild.

Perhaps, it’s the most refined of the First Growth. The wine, like all First Growth’s takes decades to mature. It has remarkable staying powers. Bottles of 1870 Lafite Rothschild discovered in the Glamis castle remain profound at more than 140 years of age! It is consider by many Master Sommeliers to be the best wine in the world.

Chateau Lafite Rothschild is one of the earliest major Bordeaux estates to bottle their own wine. In 1890, they bottled a large portion of the wine and again in 1906. Part of the estate bottling was due to requests from Negociants who were willing to pay more for Chateau bottled wines. Also, bottling was primarily done to combat piracy. At the time, it was known that merchants in some countries, like Russia were bottling cheap wine and placing labels from Lafite Rothschild on the bottles. The Koch’s famous Jefferson bottles were not the first attempt at counterfeiting.

Prior to 1996, some would say the property had its share of ups and downs. The 1960’s and 1970’s were not great for Chateau Lafite Rothschild. But since 1996, Lafite Rothschild has been producing some of the best wine in their history!

Sadly, only the wealthy can afford to purchase it. Price aside, there is no denying the level of quality. In 2003 Lafite Rothschild produced a wine that is possibly unequaled by the estate at any time in their long history. Hence, my purchase of their 03 second wine. 2009, 2010 and 2016 are not far behind.

Starting in about 2008, Lafite Rothschild became the most collectible wine from Bordeaux. Prices exploded due to demand from China as Chinese businessmen bought them as gifts or bribes depending on you look at it.

The reason this started was Lafite Rothschild paid for product placement on the number one rated Chinese soap opera on television. Characters in that show were pictured enjoying life with Lafite Rothschild and since then demand went through the roof as did priced.

However, Issac Newton had it right when he declared “What goes up, must come down.” Prices for Lafite Rothschild plummeted after 2011. By the difficult 2013, prices were finally starting to hold firm, but many of the vintages that were setting price records on a daily basis had lost close to 50% of their value.

Starting with the 2012 vintage, Chateau Lafite Rothschild began instituting anti-counterfeiting measures. From 2012 forward, to help fight, rampant counterfeiting, the estate places a seal of authenticity on the capsules of both Lafite Rothschild and Carruades de Lafite. The seal features a unique, numbered code that can be checked on their website, to verify if the wine is real.

The 112 hectare vineyard of Chateau Lafite Rothschild is planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. This shows a slight change in the vineyard.

While Cabernet Sauvignon remained at 70%, today there is slightly more Merlot, less Cabernet Franc and the Petit Verdot has been added since the mid 1990’s.

Located in the far north of the Pauillac appellation, only the small, Jalle de Breuil stream separates the vineyards from St. Estephe. You could divide the vineyards of Chateau Lafite Rothschild into three sections with 100 separate parcels in all. The estate has close to 50 hectares of vines located close to the Chateau, on both sides of the D2, which offers gentle rises in elevations of up to 27 meters. They also have about 50 hectares vines planted on the plateau in the Carruades sector, where they have two blocks of vines, one of which is inside the vineyard of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. It is interesting to note that even though the parcels in the Carruades sector give their name to the second wine of the estate, those vines are almost always placed in the Grand Vin.

There are also vines adjacent to, and interspersed with the vineyards of Chateau Duhart Milon. The property also consists of a smaller, 4.5 hectare parcel of vines located in the Saint Estephe appellation, “La Caillava”. The vines in St. Estephe are situated not that far from Cos d Estournel, which are located on a larger a parcel known as Blanquet. The vines in Saint Estephe are allowed to be placed into the wine of Chateau Lafite Rothschild because those vines were used to produce Lafite in 1885, at the time of the classification. The vineyards are close to their famous neighbor Mouton Rothschild.

Located just south of the Chateau, the best terroir of Lafite Rothschild has a thick layer of gravel with sand, clay, marl and limestone in the soils with rolling, gravel slopes. The gravel can be as deep as 4 meters in some parcels.
It is important to note that even though their vineyards are in the far north of Pauillac, most of the soil is pure gravel, rocks and stones. With more than 50% of the soil consisting of gravel, that is a large part of the reason Lafite Rothschild has such elegant, feminine textures and that coveted sensation of minerality.

On average, the vines are close to 40 years of age. However, Chateau Lafite Rothschild has much older vines. In fact, they have some vines that are more than 100 years of age planted in the La Graviere section. That small parcel of Merlot vines dates back to 1886. Less than 1% of the vines are that old.
Additionally, they have a small section of Cabernet Sauvignon that dates back to 1922! Other old vines range from 50 to 90 years of age! They also maintain some of the oldest Petit Verdot vines in the Medoc that was planted in the early 1930’s.

At Chateau Lafite Rothschild, between 1% to 1.5% of the vineyard is replanted every year. Vines less than 20 years of age are never included in the Grand Vin.

The vineyard of Chateau Lafite Rothschild is planted to a vine density that ranges from 7,500 to 8,500 vines per hectare. Only organic fertilizers are used in the vineyards of Lafite Rothschild.

During harvest, the goal is not to pick at the maximum level of ripeness. Instead, they are seeking a blend of grapes at differing levels of maturity, which gives the wine its unique textures, freshness, aromatic complexities and elegant sensations.

Lafite Rothschild is the largest of the First Growth vineyards with close to 112 hectares of vines. A large portion of the estate is taken up with stunningly, beautiful landscaping, lakes, trees and parkland.

At one point in time, Chateau Lafite Rothschild produced a dry white, Bordeaux wine that was sold as Vin de Chateau Lafite. The wine was produced from a large percentage of Semillon, blended with a small amount of Sauvignon Blanc. The last vintage for their white wine was 1960. The wine was sold as a generic AOC Bordeaux blanc with a simple, scripted label, black and white label.

Lafite vinification takes place in 66 vats that are a combination of 29 wood vats, 20 stainless steel tanks and 17 concrete vats that range in size from as small as 45 hectoliters up to 123 hectoliters in the concrete and as large as 270 hectoliters for the wood. The wide range of vat sizes coupled with different materials allow Chateau Lafite Rothschild to vinify depending on the needs of each specific parcel and grape variety. The stainless steel tanks and oak vats are used for Cabernet Sauvignon. The Merlot is vinified in the concrete tanks. Malolactic fermentation occurs in smaller, stainless steel tanks that vary in size from 25 hectoliters up to 60 hectoliters. At this point, Chateau Lafite Rothschild does not yet use gravity to move the fruit and juice in the cellar. It’s a good bet that a remodel is coming soon.

The average annual production of Chateau Lafite Rothschild ranges from 15,000 to 20,000 cases of wine per year, depending on the vintage. They of course make this second wine, Carruades de Lafite, which due to the name and association with the Grand Cru, has also become extremely collectible. Carruades de Lafite takes its name from a specific section of their vineyard that is located near Mouton Rothschild. Carruades is actually one of the older second wines in Bordeaux, as it was first produced in the mid 1850’s. About 100 years later during the mid 1960s, the estate reintroduced their second wine naming it Moulin de Carruades. The name was changed again in the 1980’s to Carruades de Lafite.

There is also a third wine which is sold as an AOC Pauillac that is produced from declassified fruit from Lafite Rothschild and Duhart-Milon.

The blend for Chateau Lafite Rothschild changes with each vintage depending on the character and quality of the vintage. Generally speaking, the amount of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend ranges from 80% to 95%. Merlot is usually 5% to 20%. Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot usually varies from 0 to 5%.

— 8 years ago