2004 Carruades de Lafite

More early tasters were talking up Latour and Mouton than Lafite, which has a tendency to be inscrutable in the early going, but my sample offered one of the purest and most aromatically complex noses of my trip as well as superb clarity and grip on the palate. Director Charles Chevallier told me that the estate had great fruit and strong and noble tannins until the rains came in September, and that it was necessary to pick a bit earlier than was ideal, especially in the young merlot vines. Still, he said, there was less difference between the merlot and cabernet than usual, and he was ultimately happy with the ripeness of the fruit (the cabernet sauvignon had healthy potential alcohol of 12.5%, vs. 13% in 2005). "We had 120 millimeters of rain during the harvest," he told me. "But people forget that it also rained during the harvest of 1996." He offered the opinion that the 2006 is "more powerful and classic than the 2004." Chevallier noted that the estate owns an Entropie machine but says it has only been used in 2002.

Director Charles Chevallier describes 2004 as a classic, fresh Lafite that will be accessible young but also capable of aging. "Even the merlot-rich wines in 2004 taste and smell like cabernet," he noted, "with their floral character, sound acidity and flavor definition." Chevallier compares the 2004 Lafite to the 2002, which had a slightly higher indice de polyphenols totaux (70, compared to 68 in 2004), and expressed the opinion that the new wine is more complex than the 2001. This estate did a good bit of green harvesting, as well as some additional crop-thinning after the August vacation, and still produced 55 hectoliters per hectare.