This has understated elegance on the attack, confident and quietly brilliant with flavours of cassis, bilberry, hedgerow and a basket full of darkly brambled fruits alongside tobacco and menthol notes. Flavoursome, subtle and multi-faceted - this is still fresh and full of life. 2% Petit Verdot completes the blend. 10% new oak
Tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 07 Sep 2020)
Part of Bordeaux 2005 second wines: Tasting six of the best

Tasted single blind at Southwold. This has a deep ripe plumy nose with good definition and freshness: cedar and blackberry, a tangible sense of mineralite but tightly-coiled. A dense weighty palate, great concentration and vibrant acidity, very focused, lithe, wonderful definition with a lifted cedar finish. No frills, but masterful winemaking is afoot here. Drink 2012-2025. Tasted January 2009.

This has understated elegance on the attack, confident and quietly brilliant with flavours of cassis, bilberry, hedgerow and a basket full of darkly brambled fruits alongside tobacco and menthol notes. Flavoursome, subtle and multi-faceted - this is still fresh and full of life. 2% Petit Verdot completes the blend. 10% new oak

Good deep red. Pungent aromas of currant, cherry skin, leather, graphite, olive and flowers. Suave, minerally and penetrating, with lovely energy and floral lift. Not at all a fleshy style but classic, vibrant and firmly built, finishing with excellent lift.

Their second wine, the 2005 Carruades de Lafite, shows much of the character of its bigger sister, with loads of red and black currant fruit, spice box and earth. Medium-bodied, with soft tannins, this precise, pure and seductive wine should be drunk over the next 15-20 years.

Has coffee and chocolate aromas, with hints of ripe fruit. Medium-bodied, with soft tannins and a fruity, plummy, milk chocolaty aftertaste. The second wine of Lafite Rothschild. Best after 2012.

A classic example of a second wine, the 2005 Carruades de Lafite reveals a dark ruby hue with some pink showing at the rim. The moderately intense nose of graphite, forest floor, and sweet black currant fruit is followed by a medium-bodied, elegant wine with light to moderate tannin. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.

Quite aromatic. Very sumptuous texture and a lovely herald of the vintage if it is not unbelievably expensive. Very ripe and mulberry flavoured and, without tasting the grand vin, you could really lose yourself in this – such fine tannins – truly cashmere! Just a little inkiness on the finish lets it down from top status. A very slightly raw, green note on the nose announces itself only after tasting Lafite itself! (JR)