Carruades de Lafite 2012

vinous88

Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni

The 2012 Carruades de Lafite is friendly, open and quite expressive. Sweet tobacco, cedar, mint, dried cherries and herbs open up in a mid-weight, fleshy red to drink over the next decade or so. The 2012 is soft, silky and easygoing.

robert_parker89

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

The second wine, the 2012 Carruades de Lafite is composed of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Soft, round, accessible and delicious, but uninspiring, it possesses a dark ruby/plum color, medium body and hints of lead pencil shavings intermixed with red and black currants and vanillin. Drink it over the next 7-8 years. Charles Chevalier was candid in saying that the tropical heat wave, along with the poor flowering resulted in intense labor in the vineyard and during the harvest where triage was the operative word, and had to be done thoroughly and consistently. The 2012 Lafite Rothschild, a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Merlot and 0.5% Petit Verdot, was the result of a harvest that took place between September 28 and October 9 for the Merlot, October 9-16 for the Cabernet Sauvignon. The small amount of Cabernet Franc included in the Carruades de Lafite was harvested on October 11 - 12. Only 38% of the production made it into the grand vin. If the 2012 fills out completely it could turn out similar to the 1998 Lafite.

robert_parker87

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

Tasted en primeur at the chateau. The Carruades de Rothschild 2012 is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. It has a very light for nose for Carruades with brambly red fruit and gravel scents. It is a light Carraudes, perhaps missing a little weight in the mid-palate, with a satisfactory, classic finish that tails away a little too quickly. Tasted April 2013.

robert_parker89

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

A very good second wine from Lafite Rothschild, the 2012 Carruades de Lafite (53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) shows dark ruby/plum/purple color, cedar wood, blackcurrants, medium-bodied, ripe tannin and a nice textured mouthfeel. It is very attractive, soft and ideal for drinking over the next 15 or more years.

vinous88

Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni

The 2012 Carruades de Lafite has quite a perfumed and floral bouquet, pencil shaving and tobacco scents filtering through the brambly red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, lighter than the Le Petit Mouton tasted alongside and just a little conservative on the finish. Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index's Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting.