2000 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild - A Wine for JimHow

[OrlandoRobert]

In a wave of largely-scaled Bordeaux from this vintage, Lafite seems to stand alone as a true classic, elegant Claret. I am amazed by how elegant and red-fruited this predominantly Cab-blend shows. Wonderfully crisp red fruits, cedar box and truffles. Restrained, but exhibiting a powerful depth of red fruits underscored by some sweet darks. Still very primary. This wine is not even exhibiting ancillary characteristics. I am baffled by the incongruence of saying this wine needs 10, 15, 20+ years to show its true spirit, when it is so incredibly delicious right now with even tannins in check.

A truly lovely, classic wine.

(96+ pts)

[OrlandoRobert]

By the way, this wine was BYOB at a restaurant, so close to being "popped and poured". We decanted it for about 30 minutes then consumed it over about 2 hours. The wine opened slightly more but never really changed much.

[JimHow]

Oh man. I have a mixed case of Lafite that I will drink in my seventies. The 2000 sounds sublime.

[AlexR]

Thanks for sharing your wine porn .

That's the sort of bottle to make one salivate...
Interesting that it should be do drinkable now.

The 2000s are my swan song, since collecting has been spotty since then.
I have several of the first growths but, alas, no Lafite from that vintage.

All the best,
Alex R.

[OrlandoRobert]

That's the sort of bottle to make one salivate...
Interesting that it should be do drinkable now.

Bear in mind I did say it was still primary. What surprised me was it's openess and that the tannins were moderate. Just an elegant wine but one that is still not exhibiting all of its pretty stuff. And yes, Alex, this is the kind of wine that makes guys like us wanna cry! I think of Kira from We the Living, so strong, so delicate, so untouchable and pure.


I was thinking further about this wine this morning. I think I have only had one Bordeaux in the past year that exhibited red fruits over dark fruits. And get this, it's the 2009 Lanessan. I'm not saying Lanessan is anywhere near that level, but there is something about the crunchy red fruit in the Lanessan that appeals to me. The Lafite is obviously at another level. The concentration of the fruits was amazing.

[jal]

I had this wine in January in a tasting of great Pauillacs and St Juliens, very similar impressions to yours, here is my note:

2000 Ch. Lafite-Rothschild 1st Growth, Pauillac; a great wine! Still very young, complex layered flavors in an elegant seamless texture, fantastic fruit, goes on and on.

The Lafite was WOTN that night besting a fantastic 1990 Leoville Las Cases, and 1989 and 2002 Latours.

This was also the tasting where the 2009 Grand Puy Lacoste tasting like alcoholic oak juice

[robertgoulet]

this was a hot thread until Lanessan was injected into the conversation!!!

unfortunately I sold my '00 750ml and '03 1500ml Lafites to china...became way too expensive to drink

[Claret]

The Lafite was WOTN that night besting a fantastic 1990 Leoville Las Cases, and 1989 and 2002 Latours.

I have a lone bottle of the 89 Latour. Is it getting ready to drink soon?

[jal]

The Lafite was WOTN that night besting a fantastic 1990 Leoville Las Cases, and 1989 and 2002 Latours.

I have a lone bottle of the 89 Latour. Is it getting ready to drink soon?

I really couldn't tell you from that one bottle, Glenn. I think the storage conditions were less than ideal, I've been in the guy's cellar, it is not temperature controlled, he just put some racks in his basement.