Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2022

FALSTAFF: "13,6 % Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Zart tabakig unterlegtes Edelholz, schwarze Waldbeeren, Cassis und dunkle Kirschen, ein Hauch von Orangenzesten und Lakritze. Stoffig, schwarze Beeren, frische Kirschen, Ribiseln, finessenreiche Struktur, seidige Tannine, mineralisch-salzig im Abgang, geprägt von enormer Länge, grandioses Reifepotenzial."

JAMES SUCKLING: "A classical Lafite that reminds me of something like the 1986, with its blackcurrant and tobacco character with cedar and hazelnut, but it's so today with its purity and precision. It's really about being Lafite here. Terroir gives great elegance with strength."

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: „Composed of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2022 Lafite Rothschild is deep garnet-purple in color. The nose is almost impenetrable to start, needing a lot of shaking to wake up delicate scents of crushed red and black currants, raspberry leaves, warm plums, and boysenberries, followed by hints of crushed rocks, damp earth, lilacs, and Jasmine tea, with just a hint of orange peel. The palate is classic great Lafite, featuring incredibly tightly knit layers of black fruits, minerals, and floral notes bound with a rock-solid structure of exquisitely fine, very firm tannins and bold freshness, finishing with epic length and depth. This is an intellectual triumph, but don't think about touching it for 10-15 years. pH 3.85."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Garnet in color, a single swirl brings out its cornucopia of scents: flowers, currants, cherries, smoke, leather, lead pencil, Cuban cigar wrapper, orange rind and smoke. The wine is pure silky, elegance in texture. This is perhaps the most sensuous vintage of Lafite ever produced with its dream texture on the palate. In the mid-palate, the wine shifts from black to red to black fruits before moving to its wave of orange citrus, ending with refreshing mint notes. The purity in the fruits is striking. The over 60-second finish is seamless, which is a good thing, because this wine is so good, you never want it to end. The wine is complete from start to finish. The wine blends 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot. It is interesting to note that the wine includes 17.5 % press wine in the blend, which sets a record for Lafite. 13.6% ABV, 3.85 pH. Harvesting starting August 31 for the young Merlot vines, for the grapes used in the Grand Vin, September 5, - September 23. Yields were 35 hectoliters per hectare. 40% of the harvest went into the Grand Vin. This is an earth-shattering vintage of Lafite that buyers with the disposabile income should add to their cellar. Drink from 2030-2065."

WEINWISSER: "94 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 % Merlot, 1 % Petit Verdot, pH 3.85, Presswein 17 %. Ungeheuer tiefgründiges Bouquet, Wildkirsche, Graphit, weißer Pfeffer und rote Johannisbeere. Im zweiten Ansatz getrocknete Fliederblüten und Graphit. Am geradlinigen, druckvollen Gaumen mit feinmehligem Extrakt und einer rasiermesserscharfen Rasse, die sich ungemein elegant um den durchtrainierten Körper legt. Im sehr straffen, konzentrierten Finale katapultiert sich der Pauillac wie ein Sprinter nach vorne mit schwarzbeerigen Konturen, tiefschürfender Terroirwürze und körniger Adstringenz. Dieser Pauillac ist mit einem gewaltigen Lagerpotenzial ausgestattet. So eine pure Rasse haben wir bei Lafite bei einer Primeur-Verkostung noch nie erlebt. 2032 – 2070."

DECANTER: "A wonderful example of restraint and delicacy in a year where it was easy to overdo. Sharp and straight, you feel the acidity as soon as this enters the mouth, alive, pulsing, bright and shining. Aromatically so expressive after a few minutes. Delicate almost, such a fine tapestry of tannins, present and at the fore but like taffeta or finely woven silk. It has power but you don't feel it, not instantly anyway, the focus is on the beautiful texture with edges of cool red and blue fruits, flint, graphite, liquorice and tobacco nuances with high acidity that all help build a layered and well constructed mid palate. The structure then focuses and narrows to a mineral, fresh finish. Has bite and succulence, gently muscular with tons of vibrancy. This is definitely one of the less showy wines that really grows on you. A delicious, defined, poised, refined and finessed Lafite. Calm, collected and incredibly charming already. Earliest harvest in over a century, 31 August to 24 September. 17.5% press wine. 3.8pH. 64IPT. 41% grand vin production."

JEB DUNNUCK: "The 2022 Château Lafite-Rothschild is based on 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot that was harvested between the 31st of August and the 24th of September. It's a richer, more opulent wine compared to the more classic 2020 (although the pH is higher in the 2020) and has a deep, full-bodied, concentrated profile as well as classic Lafite aromatics of spicy red and black fruits, freshly sharpened pencils, graphite, and tobacco. Deep, rich, and concentrated, it nevertheless stays pure and flawlessly balanced, with ample, ripe tannins and a great finish. It's going to have some up-front appeal by Lafite standards but should still require a decade of bottle age. Director Eric Koher compares this to the 2005, but this modern-day clone of the 1959 is one of the most powerful, concentrated Lafites I've tasted."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "A blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2022 Lafite Rothschild unwinds in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cassis, sweet soils tones, cigar box and lilac. Medium to full-bodied, it's the most tensile of the first growths this year, with a layered, concentrated but youthfully introverted mid-palate, lively acids and a long, saline finish. It checks in at a rather high pH of 3.85, which belies its incisive profile, from a harvest that extended from August 31 to September 24."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Precise and long with sublimated force. Darker colour than usual. Deep and fathomless in terms of expression, dark-fruit and graphite notes dominating. Impressive fruit on the palate, the tannins powerful but suave and fully integrated. Long life ahead. "

VINUM: "Superbe Aromatik von Veilchen, Flieder, Kirsche; ausgesprochen saftiger Auftakt, enorm fruchtige Entwicklung, langer, tonischer Ausklang; verblüfft durch seine ungewohnt fruchtige, offene Art."