Carruades de Lafite 2020 750mL

Carruades de Lafite 2020 is the second wine of Château Lafite Rothschild, the Pauillac First Growth. The warm, dry 2020 season gave a generous, well-structured Carruades that is more open than the grand vin yet built to age.

About This Wine

2020 brought a mild, wet spring, then a long, dry and hot summer, with the whole Lafite harvest brought in during September. The 2020 Carruades is 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, at around 13% alcohol. Reviews were consistently positive, noting ripe dark fruit, a fleshy mid-palate and firmer tannins than in lighter years, with a drinking window running from the late 2020s to around 2040.

Tasting Profile

• Nose: Redcurrant, raspberry and cassis, with violets, cigar wrapper, cedar and a touch of mint
• Palate: Medium to full-bodied and silky, with juicy black fruit, graphite and dense, fine-grained tannins
• Finish: Fresh and persistent, with liquorice, tobacco leaf and a light saline edge

Serving & Food

Serve at 16 to 18°C and decant for two hours while young. Drinkable from about 2027, best 2028 to 2040. Good with roast lamb, grilled wagyu, or Cantonese roast goose.

How to Enjoy

Pauillac lovers who want Lafite estate character to open sooner, and anyone building a mixed First Growth and second-wine cellar.

Product Details

About the Château

Lafite has been owned by the Rothschild family since Baron James de Rothschild bought it in 1868, and was ranked first in the 1855 classification. Its vineyard of a little over 100 hectares lies in three main blocks: the slopes around the château, the Carruades plateau to the west, and a small parcel over the border in Saint-Estèphe. The soils are fine, deep gravel over limestone.

Carruades is named after that plateau. It is made by the same team under technical director Eric Kohler, from younger vines and lots not chosen for the grand vin, and it usually carries far more Merlot than Lafite itself, which gives it a rounder, earlier-drinking feel.