Original Wood Cases

wines

An elegant but muscular Lafite, really summing up the trajectory that this wine takes over decades in a good vintage. It started out in its early years with huge concentration, more in fact than in many vintages, but it is now showcasing the subtlety and infinite range of flavours and aromatics that makes Lafite such a singular wine. Expect layers of earth, cigar box, liquorice, cold ash, blackberry, cassis, pencil lead, mint leaf and crushed rock minerality. The first Lafite to be put in an anti-fraud engraved bottle. 38% of overall production in the first wine, quite low at the time although typical today. 3% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Drinking Window 2024 - 2040.Decanter | 100 DECTasted three times since bottling, the 1996 Lafite-Rothschild is unquestionably this renowned estate’s greatest wine. As I indicated last year, only 38% of the crop was deemed grand enough to be put into the final blend, which is atypically high in Cabernet Sauvignon (83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 7% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot). This massive wine may be the biggest, largest-scaled Lafite I have ever tasted. It will require many years to come around, so I suspect all of us past the age of fifty might want to give serious consideration as to whether we should be laying away multiple cases of this wine. It is also the first Lafite-Rothschild to be put into a new engraved bottle (designed to prevent fraudulent imitations). The wine exhibits a thick-looking, ruby/purple color, and a knock-out nose of lead pencil, minerals, flowers, and black currant scents. Extremely powerful and full-bodied, with remarkable complexity for such a young wine, this huge Lafite is oozing with extract and richness, yet has managed to preserve its quintessentially elegant personality. This wine is even richer than it was prior to bottling. It should unquestionably last for 40-50 years. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2050.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe 1996 Lafite-Rothschild is consistent with the bottle shown at the Hong Kong vertical. It has an intense bouquet with blackberry, cedar and a pencil box of graphite. The adjective I use whilst writing this note is that the aromas are "cool". Perhaps given its provenance, this is one of the most backward bottles of 1996 that I have tasted. There are those fine but rigid tannins that lend this Lafite such beguiling symmetry, copious cedar and graphite with vein of brine and oyster shell. I love the precision of this wine and the sappiness on the finish. At the moment, maybe more impressive than enjoyable, so if you can, cellar it for another 5 to 8 years. Tasted at the Lafite-Rothschild 150th anniversary dinner at the estate.Vinous Media | 97+ VMThe beauty and balance of this are phenomenal. Seamless tannins and fruit. Full body yet so balanced and refined. Sweet tobacco and berries. Minerals and cedar. A beautiful wine. The depth is superb. Drink now.James Suckling | 97 JSGorgeous aromas of currant, berries and licorice. Full-bodied, with supersilky tannins and a long, caressing finish. Still holding back. People talk about this as one of the greatest Lafites ever, but I don’t think so.--’95/’96 Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2008.Wine Spectator | 95 WS

Jean-Rene Matignon had been the winemaker for 10 years at this point and has made a brilliant wine that took its time to come around but is tasting delicious right now, exceptionally enjoyable and enticing. Supple tannins, plenty of grilled cedar and tobacco leaf, plump-textured cassis and blackberry brambled fruits, still fairly backward and young, just very much a classic Pauillac that has poise and lift. A dark horse, not seen as impressive as Comtesse in its youth, but now flexing its muscles. Drinking Window 2023 - 2036.Decanter | 96 DECThe 1996 Pichon-Baron now has a superior bouquet to the 1995. There is much better definition here, and the scents of blackberry, graphite, smoke and a touch of gravel are all very harmonious and focused - quintessential Pauillac. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and very fresh in the mouth. Hints of blood orange suffuse vivid black fruit tinged with a core of mineralité toward the finish. This is a seriously fine Pichon-Baron that seems to be pulling away from the 1995. Easily the peak of the nineties. Superb. Tasted at the Pichon-Baron vertical at the château.Vinous Media | 94 VMThe 1996 Pichon-Longueville Baron is beginning to drink beautifully. Unwinding in the decanter and glass with aromas of cassis, pencil shavings, black truffles, burning embers and loamy soil, it’s medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless, with an attractive core of fruit that’s framed by powdery tannins and succulent acids, concluding with a long, blood orange-inflected finish. While it can’t match what this château achieved in 1989 and 1990, it’s showing very well today.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92 RPGorgeous aromas of crushed blackberries, currant and citrus fruit. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a fruity, herbal aftertaste. A little hollow on the midpalate. Ready to go.--’95/’96 Bordeaux retrospective. Drink now. 25,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WS