Jamessuckling.com | JS 96
Published: May 7, 2023

So perfumed and subtle with roses, lavender, sage, and currants. Medium-bodied. So much Spanish cedar, cigar box, currants, fresh tobacco and spice. Classic Lafite character. 52% cabernet sauvignon, 42% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 3% merlot. Better after 2028.

Decanter | D 95
Published: Jan 2, 2023
Date: 2025-2039

Some candy floss notes, ripe fruit, almost sweet and perfumed, scented cherry drop sweets on the nose. I was expecting something more plush on the palate but this is just so fun with a lovely bouncy palate, cushioned and bright. Stunning sharp and bright bramble fruit flavours are given grip from the liquorice-laced tannins but overall this has so much joy, energy and character. A strong spiced backbone gives the structure with excellent freshness and tension for ageing but it's also saying 'look how fun and drinkable I am right now'. An excellent Carruades.

The Wine Advocate | RP 91
Published: Apr 6, 2023
Drink: 2023-2040

A blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 2020 Carruades de Lafite offers up aromas of dark berries, cassis, cigar wrapper, violets and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, broad and fleshy, it's a rich, gourmand wine, some 20% of which was matured in tank.

Today, Château Lafite Rothschild amounts to some 110 hectares planted to some 900,000 vines (including 4.5 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon in Saint-Estèphe). If that figure strikes readers as smaller than it used to be, that's because Lafite has ripped up some less optimally situated plots that never tended to produce wine fit for inclusion in the grand vin. As of 2021, what's more, organic conversion is underway (15 hectares are already farmed biodynamically), and hedges and flowering borders, planted with native species, now begin to break up the monoculture of the vine. Cover crops, too, have been added to the viticultural team's agronomic arsenal and are delivering good results in parcels with more humid or clay-rich soils. In the winery, Lafite is meticulously traditional—the grapes are sorted twice, once optically, and see a classical maceration in wooden and cement tanks with pump-overs and some use of the gentle "air pulse" system that disrupts the cap and oxygenates the ferment without the need for a full pump-over. Malolactic fermentation, as ever, is in tank, and the wine matures in barrels that are mostly produced in-house, with a light toast and favoring the forests of Allier and Nevers. Each vintage is racked three times, traditionally, with one egg white fining (which requires up to 8,000 eggs). As is the case almost everywhere in the Médoc, the tendency is for less and less Merlot in the assemblage.

Jancisrobinson.com | JR 17
Published: Feb 15, 2024
Drink: 2030-2045

Tasted blind. Deep crimson. Smells of rich and spicy black fruit. Open and aromatic. Deliciously aromatic on the palate, the tannins compact and very fine, giving an elegant framework for the pure fruit. A bit dry on the finish.

lafite.com

The vintage
The vintage was so early that all through the year we had been preparing for a harvest at the end of August! For Carruades, much of which comes from the youngest vines, one day destined for Lafite, the storms after véraison were a blessing: thanks to them, we did not see any signs of water stress in the grapes, sometimes seen in previous years. In 2020, the Carruades blend has benefited from the presence of our large plots of Merlot such as Grande Horte, Barat, Gandeau. These plots are our hopes for the future, which we prepare each year to reach the level of Lafite... and which flourish in Carruades while awaiting their turn. With 42% Merlot, the vintage marks a return to a high percentage of Merlot in Carruades.

Location
Pauillac is located on the left bank of the Gironde estuary, approximately 40km North of Bordeaux. With the tempering influence of the estuary and a great diversity of soils originated from both the Massif Central and the Pyrenees, Pauillac boasts exceptional climatic and geological conditions to make outstanding wines.

Terroir
Chateau Lafite Rothschild is located to the North of the Pauillac appellation, bordering Saint-Estèphe. The vineyard consists of three main areas : the hillsides around the Château, the adjacent Carruades plateau to the west, and 4.5 hectares in Saint Estèphe appellation. The vineyard covers 112 hectares with soil made up of fine deep gravel, mixed with aeolian sand on a subsoil of tertiary limestone. It is well-drained and benefits from optimal sun exposure.

Winemaking
Carruades de Lafite is made according to the traditional Bordeaux method. Alcoholic fermentation is conducted in wooden, concrete and stainless steel vats. Gentle pumping-over helps to ensure a soft extraction and is carried out according to the specific characteristics of each tank. Total maceration time lasts for about 20 days.
After malolactic fermentation, wines are transfered into French oak barrels made by the Tonnelleries des Domaines in Pauillac for a period of 16 months approximately.

Grapes
52 % Cabernet sauvignon
42 % Merlot
3 % Cabernet franc
3 % Petit verdot

Tasting
Carruades is an intense brilliant crimson red in colour.
Its nose, discreet at first, quickly gives off aromas of redcurrants and raspberries, supported by subtle notes of mint and liquorice. The attack on the palate is silky with great finesse, surprisingly fresh for a solar vintage. A good dense tannic structure persists throughout the tasting, with a finish that is still discreet but full of promise.