2018 Château Lafite Rothschild Carruades de Lafite

The Carruades de Lafite is the second wine from Château Lafite Rothschild and has similar characteristics to the Grand Vin, but with its own personality linked to a higher proportion of Merlot and to specific plots used to produce Carruades. The name comes from the Carruades Plateau, a group of plots acquired in 1845 just next to the hilltop vines of the Château.

2018 proved to be difficult but turned out to be great, Lafite's technical director Eric Kohler told Robert Parker, barely able to contain his excitement about this year. “The finish of this vintage was so perfect in terms of maturation!” “It started out really wet – more wet than rainy,” Kohler continued. “On the right bank and Sauternes they received more rain. Same with Margaux. There was a lot of mold pressure. Here in Lafite the mildew pressure was lower than on the Right Bank or Sauternes. We lost less than 5% here. They are close to organic with our agriculture, but not quite. The Carruades de Lafite 2018 is composed of 56.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot and 5.5% Cabernet Franc. The Merlot was harvested from September 17 to 24, the Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested from September 25 to October 5 and the Cabernet Franc was harvested from September 24.

From mid-July it became very dry and very hot. This was the hottest summer since 2003. Obviously it was not as extreme as 2003. Therefore the potential of the terroir was very important. What makes great terroir? It is a terroir that can compensate for the excesses of the vintage. The terroir must have the ability to behave like a sponge: retain or give water. The clay sponge we have at Lafite regulated the excess of the vintage. This year, instead of the humid wind from the west, we got a dry wind from the northeast. So there was no risk of botrytis when harvest approached. 2016 and 2018 are like two brothers: the former easier to manage, the latter more problems and potential excess, but ultimately very wonderful.”

Kohler also noted: "Duhart-Milon doesn't have the clay/water holding capacity of Lafite, but a little rain in late August/early September helped the vineyard come through. The Merlot performed very well - Duhart-Milon might have A better terroir for Merlot than Lafite is very lush this year. For the dry white wines it was a very hot summer and so the dry white wines may not be as aromatic."