Tasting Notes and Scores
[91CS/8.5M/0.5PV] (38%Harvest, 40h/ha, 12.7%, 100% New) Fresh, ripe blackcurrent cabernet fruit and minerals on the nose; beautifully balanced, rich middleweight with a fresh acidity, a fine concentration and a delightfully textured, soft fine tannin; ripe, fresh, sweet cored, long racy and appetising across the palate and with a lovely mouthcoating, perfumed sweetness and minerality on its fine finish. Richness, vitality, energy, scope and a marked mineral element, all in a classic combination of delicacy and power. Absolutely lovely Lafite which will give a great deal of sensual pleasure over many years. A great success.The highest proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in recent times, so clearly no Cabernet issues to taste here! Drink 2025-40.
-M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2013
Michael Schuster
Superb structure for the vintage with blackcurrants, cedar, mushroom and sweet tobacco character. Full-bodied yet reserved and tight with an impressive density. Long finish. Steven Spurrier
Decanter
Superb structure for the vintage with blackcurrants, cedar, mushroom and sweet tobacco character. Full-bodied yet reserved and tight with an impressive density. Long finish.
James Suckling
Quality 885 | Brand 999 | Economics 958 |
buzz brand, investment staple
Quality: Predicted life of 16 years, one of the longest drinking windows in its peer group, which averages 9 years
Brand: #2 Most sought after wine globally, with 87,284 searches on Wine-Searcher per month
Economics: #3 most active wine at auction, its top 5 vintages having seen 4,733 75cl equivalent bottles traded in the past year
Production: Higher production than its peer group average of 151,058 bottles
- www.wine-lister.com June 2017
Wine Lister
This has a dark, smoky edge from the start, with smoldering tobacco and grilled savory notes lining the core of steeped plum, macerated black currant and lightly mulled cherry fruit. Shows a loamy, smoky edge to the finish, with the tobacco hint peeking out. Features admirable range, depth and grip, with just a twinge of the vintage's austerity lurking. Best from 2018 through 2030. 16,000 cases made. – James Molesworth (WineSpectator.com, March 2015)
Wine Spectator
(91% Cabernet Sauvignon/8.5% Merlot/0.5% Petit Verdot)
Quality nose, focused but complex. Real minerality. Great, full weight, mouthfilling palate. Awesome, deft concentration. Proper linear focus but meaty, luscious fruit too.
Bordeaux Index
The 2012 Lafite-Rothschild opens with striking inner perfume. Long and beautifully persistent on the palate, the 2012 is ample and generous, but never heavy. Shades of dark red cherry and plum infusion shape the finish. The 2012 is not an epic Lafite, but it is expressive and delicious today.
Antonio Galloni
Tasted en primeur at the château. The Grand Vin was picked between 28th September (with the Merlot) and 16th October (with the Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot) and is a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Merlot and a pinch of Petit Verdot. It has a fragrant pencil lead bouquet with small dark cherries and brambly blackberry fruit. The definition is very fine with moderate intensity. The palate is more convincing than the aromatics at this point with fully ripe, quite tensile tannins and very good cohesion. Naturally it does not have the weight of a top Lafite vintage, although the focus is impressive. There is a nascent femininity about this Lafite and it might show much better after bottling. – eRobertParker.com, April 2013
Neal Martin
The 2012 Lafite Rothschild, representing only 38% of their total production, is a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance mostly Merlot. It is a very stylish, elegant, yet concentrated Lafite Rothschild with an opaque ruby/purple color, soft well-integrated tannins, nice integrated oak, acidity and alcohol. Lafites’s 2012 reveals good, opaque, ruby/purple color and plenty of lead pencil and blackcurrant fruit. The wine is medium-bodied and should hit its prime 2020-2035. 91 points – Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #218, April 2015)
Wine Advocate
91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Merlot, 0.5% Petit Verdot. Very dense and lustrous. Unusually (for Lafite) intense and creamy; it's almost as though Carruades has assumed Lafite character and Lafite is more Moutonish, almost flamboyant! Dry edge but very savoury and rather lords it over us – see how ripe our Cabernets were…! Perhaps the tannins are not the ripest but the fruit certainly is. Classic Pauillac if not exactly classic Lafite. Not quite as 'whole' as Haut-Brion perhaps. Drink: 2022-2045 – jancisrobinson.com, Avril 2013
Jancis Robinson
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