Château Lafite Rothschild

Carruades de Lafite, Pauillac, 2023

Name: Carruades de Lafite, Pauillac
Brand: Château Lafite Rothschild
Price: 930 GBP

94/100

Inside Bordeaux

92-94/100

The Wine Independent

91-93/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

delivery

in bond

En primeur

2023
6x75cl
EP
£930.00

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Produced from 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, Lafite's second wine has less definition than the very impressive Duhart Milon, but still possesses an attractive core of dark berry fruit, minerals and stony, salty notes. The tannins are a touch brusque, but we expect these to resolve during élevage.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

94/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

Medium intensity ruby, fairly austere right now, structured, with the same mint leaf and ink quality as Lafite. The sweet brambled black fruits only come in through the mid palate, this is well paced, unrolls slowly, a serious and concentrated Carruades that has its eye on the future. 12% pres wine, harvest September 7 to 29, unusually only using Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend.

drinking window 2029 - 2044

date of review 04/2024

91-93/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2023 Carruades de Lafite is notable for some of the Cabernet being picked prior to the Merlot, between September 7 and 29. This year, there is no Cabernet Franc or Petit Verdot in the blend. It has a far superior bouquet to some of the vintages I was tasting a decade or so ago—much more purity and precision, with notes of black plum, wild strawberry and a touch of cassis. The palate is medium-bodied with a silky texture and a crisp line of acidity. It’s fresh, precise and saline, with a long tail on the finish. This is surely one of the best Carruades I have tasted at this stage.

drinking window 2027 - 2047

date of review 04/2024

92-94/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

The 2023 Carruades de Lafite is deep garnet-purple in color. After a swirl or two, a beautiful perfume of rose oil and lavender is released, opening out to a classic core of cassis, fresh plums, and pencil lead with a touch of red, iron-rich soil. The light to medium-bodied palate is delicately styled, with compelling vibrancy and nice, ripe, fine-grained tannins supporting the black fruits, finishing long and fragrant. This is very pretty! The blend is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, with pH 3.70. The alcohol is 13.2%.

drinking window 2028 - 2042

date of review 04/2024

product details

Specifications

Country:

France

Region:

Bordeaux

Appellation:

Pauillac

Producer:

Château Lafite Rothschild

style:

Red Wine

Grape Variety:

Cab Sauvignon Merlot

abv:

12.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.