Lafite Rothschild stable released

This morning was the exciting release of the wines from the Lafite Rothschild stable. It is the first of the First Growths to come out this year. They are however 50% down in volume on last year – so allocations are incredibly tight.

Lafite Rothschild 2019

2019 is released at £426 per bottle, that is 14.8% down in sterling terms on the 2018 wine that was released at £500 per bottle. As we would expect from Lafite, it gets very good scores from the critics. 99-100 points from James Suckling and 97-99 from Lisa Perrotti-Brown.

Lafite is the most traded wine on Liv-ex (other than Mouton in 2003) – so is a wine that we will take our full allocation of. Today’s release looks very good value indeed.

Carruades de Lafite 2019

The second wines of the big names have proven to have been some of the best investments – and Carruades is no different with a cult following and top performer on the secondary market.

Released at £158 per bottle, down 15% from 2018 that opened at £187.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW (Wine Advocate) scored the wine a barrel range of 92-94 points. In her tasting note she said that “it comes skipping out of the glass with bright, fresh notions of wild blueberries, ripe plums and redcurrant jelly”. She added: “in a word: Yum!”

James Suckling awarded the wine a slightly higher 95-96 points. He noted that “the purity of fruit is so enticing here with strawberries, flowers, lavender and currants” and added that it is “full-bodied with firm, fine tannins”.

Allocations of this wine are frustratingly limited, but we will take the allocations we can get hold of.

Duhart Milon 2019

Another wine released this morning from Lafite, offered at £52 per bottle, down 4.7% on the 2018 wine @ £54.58. This is probably the smallest percentage drop in price during the 2019 campaign – but still a good wine to have in your portfolio.

For James Suckling (95-96), this is a “very balanced, refined Duhart with ever so fine tannins and currant, tobacco and cedar aromas and flavors”. Jeff Leve (The Wine Cellar Insider) also tasted today’s release and gave it 93-95 points, noting that “the wine straddles between classic and modern Pauillac”.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW (Wine Advocate) scored the 2019 Duhart Milon a barrel range of 92-94. She said in her tasting note: “Medium-bodied, the palate is spritely and refreshing, with bags of juicy, mint-laced black fruits and an approachable, plush texture, finishing long and lively”.

If you are interested in finding out more about investment wine – please contact charles@waudinvestmentwines.com