Carruades de Lafite

5/7/2019 WeinWisser WEINWISSER : 17,5 / 20 5/3/2019 Vinous VINOUS (ANTONIO GALLONI) : 89-91 / 100 The 2018 Carruades de Lafite is silky, polished and very pretty. Silky tannins and bright, red-toned fruit give the Carruades a feel of total sophistication and polish. This is a very pretty second wine from Lafite-Rothschild. Even so, the four day-old sample almost certainly does not show the 2018 at its best. The blend is 56.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot and 5.5% Cabernet Franc. 5/1/2019 Jeb DUNNUCK JEB DUNNUCK (JEB DUNNUCK) : 94-96 / 100 The second wine of Lafite is the 2018 Carruades De Lafite (56.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc). This ruby/purple colored effort offers classic Lafite elegance and purity as well as lead pencil, red and black currants, and tobacco. Elegant, silky, ultra-fine and beautifully balanced, with ripe tannins, it's a smoking second wine that’s going to keep for 2-3 decades. 4/23/2019 The Wine Cellar Insider THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER (JEFF LEVE) : 92-94 / 100 A medium-bodied, elegant, black currant-filled wine that is refined, forward, fresh and clean. Silky textures and spicy, red pit fruits in the finish, the wine was made from blending 56.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot and 5.5% Cabernet Franc. 4/23/2019 Wine Advocate WINE ADVOCATE (LISA PERROTTI-BROWN) : 92-94 / 100 The 2018 Carruades de Lafite is composed of 56.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot and 5.5% Cabernet Franc. The Merlot was harvested September 17-24, the Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested September 25 to October 5, and the Cabernet Franc was harvested September 24. Deep garnet-purple colored, it reveals a very serious nose of pencil shavings, black tea, violets and dark chocolate with earthy wafts of underbrush and mossy bark over a core of warm cassis, blackberry preserves and black raspberries. Medium to full-bodied, the densely packed, black-fruited palate is laced with loads of compelling mineral sparks with a firm, grainy frame and beautiful freshness to lift the long, earthy finish. 4/17/2019 Wine Enthusiast WINE ENTHUSIAST (ROGER VOSS) : 93-95 / 100 This is a ripe, juicy wine that's rich and generous in texture, with light touches of spice and fine tannins. It has both weight and freshness, giving a wine that is elegant and ripe. 4/17/2019 Decanter Magazine DECANTER MAGAZINE (JANE ANSON) : 93 / 100 This has rich fruit notes with exotic spices, a silky texture and a seductive approachability that clearly translates the higher than usual amount of Merlot in the blend this year, as with Petit Mouton. It’s a wine that is bound to make a lot of people happy but also means that whereas Lafite is archetypal Lafite, this is perhaps a less classic Carruades. It still has the tannins of Pauillac, and as so often is the case this year the first time you taste feels easy then they steal up on you and start to layer but this is flexible and approachable, with a menthol finish. Carruades is continuing to benefit from the techniques brought to it under in-house R&D technician Manuela Brando which include honing vineyard mapping, detailing smaller plots and tracking vine vigour, all of which are particularly useful since Carruades' soils are less consistent than those of the main wine. 39% of production. 4/12/2019 Jamessuckling.com JAMESSUCKLING.COM (JAMES SUCKLING) : 95-96 / 100 This is an extremely fine-grained Carraudes with a complex character of chocolate, walnut, cedar and a hint of graphite. Medium-to full-bodied, tight and chewy but, at the same time, agile and light. Savory finish. Special.