Château Lafite Rothschild 2024 | Pauillac
96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot
Vinous (Neal Martin) 95-97
According to Technical Director Eric Kohler, the 2024 Lafite-Rothschild was picked from September 23 to October 7 and underwent a short vinification—less than three weeks—plus a gentle extraction. The blend includes 16% vin de presse. It has an understated and typical Lafite nose with crushed stone infusing the black fruit, black olive tapenade and marine scents. It comes across as statesmanlike, which is just how you want your First Growth, even in a tricky vintage like this. The palate is medium-bodied with fresh saline notes on the entry. Tensile from the start, this has very impressive focus and is a tad more peppery than previous vintages. This is an assured Lafite-Rothschild with a very seaweed/Japanese wakame-tinged finish. Very promising and one of the very few "cerebral" Left Bank wines in 2024.
Vinous (Antonio Galloni) 94-96
The 2024 Lafite-Rothschild is a sensual, elegant wine very much in the style of the year. Plush and enveloping, with lovely forward fruit, the 2024 is very Lafite, perhaps a bit reticent, but super-expressive just the same. Black cherry, pomegranate, blood orange and a kiss of espresso all build in the glass, framed by quintessentially finessed Lafite tannins. The 2024 is sublime. I expect it will be one of the to be one of the top wines in the Médoc when all is said and done.
Yves Beck 97-99, James Suckling 96-97, Jane Anson 95, Vinous (N. Martin) 95-97, Decanter 96, Wine Independent 94-96, Falstaff 95