Past Becomes
Now: Lafite-Rothschild 1874-1982&nbsp;BY&nbsp;NEAL MARTIN |&nbsp;APRIL 17, 2024For those
who enjoy my voluble prose, apologies, but I am keeping this account of last
September’s retrospective of Lafite-Rothschild relatively brief. That has
nothing to do with the grandeur of the subject in question, nor should you
infer that it is a measure of my appreciation for this First Growth. It is simply
because I composed <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/looking-back-to-go-forward-lafite-rothschild-1868-2015-jul-2018">a
lengthy piece</a> six years ago on numerous vintages back to 1868, the year
when the Rothschild family picked up the front door keys to the château. Now, this
vertical doesn’t travel so far back in time, though it only falls six
vintages short.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1713361211248-lafite+bottle+line+up+%281%29.JPG">The
same group of wine lovers undertook parallel Latour and Lafite-Rothschild
verticals on my previous visit to Hong Kong in 2018. On that occasion, Latour made
a much greater impression, and I recall some attendees unconvinced by the
reverence afforded towards Lafite-Rothschild. I empathized with their opinion,
even if it was not one I shared. To quote the indefatigable David Peppercorn in
his Bordeaux tome, apropos Lafite, he writes: “Its successful and great
years were not so frequent until after 1975 as were those of Latour, and its
lesser years tended to be exquisitely pretty but decidedly small wines.” Added
to this, some vintages, even great ones like the 1953, were bottled over a
period of months, hence greater bottle variation vis-à-vis its peers. Given
this backdrop, the group’s expectations leading into this dinner were modest. A
friend leaned over just before the first was poured and confessed that
Lafite-Rothschild was not his bag. He was here out of curiosity more than
anything. After the tasting concluded, I asked whether his opinion had been
altered. 

He
smiled and said: “Now I get it.”You
could argue that forming an opinion on a château based on century-old bottles
is absurd, like buying a house based on a Victorian survey report. How can these
wines be germane to the present day? I would argue that Lafite-Rothschild has remained
stylistically consistent throughout its history, a paragon of finesse and
understatement whatever the season’s vagaries. It never shouts or stomps its
feet, demanding attention. It abhors ostentation. Lafite-Rothschild is never
going to blitz your olfactory senses. Instead, it politely asks you to let it
open, like a daisy on the first warm spring morning, which might explain why
some more impatient Bordeaux lovers overlook its delights as being too hasty to
cast judgment. Perhaps it’s out of sync in a world enamored by glitz, a world
where wines are predesigned to seduce as soon as their umbilical is cut. Its
deceptive lack of structure vis-à-vis Latour and lack of pizzazz vis-à-vis
Mouton cause some to doubt its longevity. However, in my experience, concentration
and power are not prerequisites for wine to transcend time. And Lafite does it
with unequaled panache. 

Broaching
bottles chronologically, everybody eagerly looked forward to the 1870
Lafite-Rothschild. A couple of attendees reminded me that I once bestowed a
perfect score for this ancient wine (not that I need reminding – such bottles
are indelibly imprinted in one’s vinous memory). Despite sound provenance, this
bottle belonged to the morgue and rapidly oxidized in the glass. You could
almost hear the groans from the audience, but you have to take these things on
the chin, say a silent prayer and move on to the next wine.

This
happened to be the 1874 Lafite-Rothschild. The doyen of wine writers,
André Simon, rated this wine second only to Haut-Brion that vintage. Estate
manager at the time, Émile Goudal, described it as a “large volume, high
quality” vintage, a total of 224 tonneaux produced, a large slice bought by
English merchants. As readers of The Complete Bordeaux Vintage Guide
might have noticed, this is a vintage that I have never drunk before. It could
only happen in Hong Kong, but 24 hours earlier, this same wine, from a
completely different source, had been served blind as a last-minute addition. Alas,
it was oxidized and volatile, intriguing despite its blatant faults. With this
bottle fresh in my mind, I forewarned attendees not to raise expectations too
high the following night. Blow me down; this second bottle, from a Bristol
merchant’s sale in 2016, was ethereal. Aromatics floated from the glass and
tickled you under the chin. It mesmerized its audience, the palate exuding
Burgundian transparency.

As the
saying goes: Only great bottles, never great wines.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1713361233598-lafite+1922+bottle.JPG">That
bottle was an augury for three inter-war vintages. None of these vintages are
particularly renowned or rarely seen; many were consumed long before the more
revered 1928 and 1929s. Peppercorn writes that this period was not a fecund one
for Lafite-Rothschild. The 1919 vintage, hampered by an inclement July,
produced light and acidic wine. Nevertheless, prices leaped due to the end of
the Great War and increased demand. The 1922 growing season was overcast
resulting in a late harvest, traduced by one Bordeaux merchant as “washed out
wines with neither vice nor virtue.” No mincing words there. Meanwhile, 1926
witnessed widespread coulure and an extremely tardy picking that began on
October 4. Given this context, you would expect the bottles to be past their
mortal coils. On the contrary, to my own surprise, the 1919, 1922 and 1926
Lafite-Rothschild (at least the second bottle) were stylish, refined and
articulated their respective vintages with utmost precision. They altered
opinions in the room on that night in Hong Kong as if a veil of mystery was
finally lifted. You could not argue against these wines’ longevity and
ineffable complexity. Some might justifiably argue that we were broaching them
long past their peaks, yet nobody could deny they give sensory pleasure, not just
survivors but wines revealing in their dotage. 

Alas, we
hit choppy waters once again. The 1945 was oxidized, and the 1953 was muted and
dull—nothing like what should have been one of the greatest wines of the 20th
century. Indeed, my hit rate with the 1953 Lafite-Rothschild is extremely low—four
duff bottles out of five. &nbsp;

Better in
this flight was the 1952 Lafite-Rothschild, a “useful” vintage with a
propensity to exceed expectations since the feted 1953s immediately eclipsed
them. The 1952 vintage was hampered by a cold September that estate manager
Jean Mermillod suggested would have been too concentrated had it not rained and
diluted the juice. It epitomizes the spectral beauty of Lafite-Rothschild:
floral on the nose and less brutish and austere than some of its Médoc peers.
Bottles with sound provenance are worth hunting down. The bottle of 1961
Lafite-Rothschild was poured at a different event the following week, an
epic, mature claret dinner at the Hong Kong Golf Club, which will be
written up in due course. This year saw the estate host the Fête de la Fleur,
though it was, in fact, a rather challenging year that witnessed a late spring
frost and diminished yields. This resulted in a very concentrated wine that was
100% Cabernet Sauvignon. I am not alone in suggesting that Lafite-Rothschild
has never been the strongest First Growth in this auspicious year. It certainly
lags behind Latour, Mouton-Rothschild and Haut-Brion, and indeed, the imperious
1959 Lafite-Rothschild. However, this bottle acquitted itself supremely well
and performed even better than a bottle served at the château. It doesn’t
possess the concentration and depth of the finest 1961s, yet this was more
cohesive and showed more grip than previous examples, hence my higher score.

We
finished with a fine-boned 1966 Lafite-Rothschild, even if it was not
the best bottle that I have ever drunk. The dark horse and a turn-up for the
books was the 1970 Lafite-Rothschild. The season witnessed a torridly
hot July but a cool September, though fortunately, clement conditions returned
on the eve of picking that commenced October 2. This was a reliable vintage two
decades ago when I drank 1970s Claret regularly, though I found that even some
of the most reputed wines are beginning to dry out. This was easily the best
bottle that I have encountered, endowed with more expressive aromatics and a
beguilingly sweet core of fruit, tender but reassuringly long.

The
most recent bottle seemed to be cut from a completely different cloth from
those that preceded it. While the ones mentioned thus far hail from a bygone
age, the 1982 Lafite-Rothschild comes from what could be described as
the beginning of the estate’s modern era. This came from the sale of Tour
d’Argent’s legendary cellar in Paris, ergo, perfect provenance. Magnificent
from start to finish, though I would be inclined to give it longer in the
cellar if you can resist temptation.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1713361256976-lafite+corks.JPG">Final Thoughts This
had been yet another marvelous evening of exceptional wines. Given their
antiquity, there was always a risk that dinner could have fallen flat on its
face, and we were not spared misfiring bottles such as 1870, 1945 and 1953.
Fortunately, these were compensated by other vintages from less renowned
growing seasons where provenance played a key role. They epitomize Lafite-Rothschild
and entranced those that hitherto had less appreciation for the First Growth. That
trio from 1919 to 1926 formed the heart of the tasting, each one confounding
expectations, while the 1874 was a time-defying Claret that, at 149 years old,
still has a glint in its eye. Even though the vertical had hopped, skipped and
jumped through decades, it was easy to find a common stylistic thread, even to
their most recent vintages. It is pretty profound to consider drawing a line
straight through all these wines to the present day, wines that fold time so that
the past becomes now.© 2024, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.<hr> You Might Also Enjoy<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/an-exploration-of-time-gruaud-larose-1831-2018-mar-2024">An Exploration of Time: Gruaud Larose 1831-2018</a>, Neal Martin, March 2024 <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/merci-monsieur-amiot-clos-des-lambrays-1923-2021-mar-2024">Merci, Monsieur Amiot: Clos des Lambrays 1923-2021</a>, Neal Martin, March 2024 <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/test-of-endurance-bordeaux-2014-ten-years-on-mar-2024">Test of Endurance: Bordeaux 2014 Ten Years On</a>, Neal Martin, March 2024<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/looking-back-to-go-forward-lafite-rothschild-1868-2015-jul-2018">Looking Back To Go Forward: Lafite-Rothschild 1868–2015</a>, Neal Martin, July 2018

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