Subtle aromas of currants, leather, tobacco and cedar. Classic cigar box nose, with fruit. Full-bodied, with an amazing texture of silky, ripe tannins. This wine completely coats your palate, but caresses it at the same time. This is the best young Lafite ever made. A triumph. Best after 2012. 18,000 cases made. 100 points James Suckling for the Wine Spectator, Online Mar 31, 2003.
Since I gave this wine a perfect score, I suppose some could see this as a downgrade. I found everything still there for a perfect rating, but I was just struck by how tight and backward the wine was. A blend of 93.3% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot, the wine still has a dark ruby/purple color and an extraordinarily youthful nose of graphite, black currants, sweet, unsmoked cigar tobacco, and flowers. The wine is rich, medium to full-bodied, but has that ethereal elegance and purity that is always Lafite. I originally predicted that it would first reach maturity in 2011, but I would push that back by 5-7 years now, although it has 50-60 years of life in front of it. Owners of this beauty are probably best advised to forget it for 5 years. Tasted next to a 1996 several days after the 2000 tasting, the 1996, which is a perfect wine, was far closer to full maturity than the 2000. 98+ points Robert Parkers Wine Advocate # 189 (Jun 2010)
Bright medium ruby. Pure, perfumed aromas of blackberry, cassis, licorice, lead pencil, violet and minerals. Extremely primary and pure, with sharply defined cassis, violet and mineral flavors of great class. Conveys a rare lightness of touch for today Bordeaux. Finishing flavors grip the palate in a way too few wines from this vintage do. Very strong but subtle on the back end 93-96 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, May/Jun '01.
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