2024 Château Lafite Rothschild | DMG

According to Technical Director Eric Kohler, the 2024 Lafite-Rothschild was picked from September 23 to October 7 and underwent a short vinification—less than three weeks—plus a gentle extraction. The blend includes 16% vin de presse. It has an understated and typical Lafite nose with crushed stone infusing the black fruit, black olive tapenade and marine scents. It comes across as statesmanlike, which is just how you want your First Growth, even in a tricky vintage like this. The palate is medium-bodied with fresh saline notes on the entry. Tensile from the start, this has very impressive focus and is a tad more peppery than previous vintages. This is an assured Lafite-Rothschild with a very seaweed/Japanese wakame-tinged finish. Very promising and one of the very few "cerebral" Left Bank wines in 2024.

- Neal Martin (04/2025)

A more Burgundian vintage for Lafite, with cedar, graphite, paprika, white pepper and fresh red fruit. Nuanced and refined, with a medium body and understated fruit. Intensity and concentration. It shows the Lafite hallmark of elegance, with more fluidity and crunch this year. Very long and delicate. 96% cabernet sauvignon, 3% merlot and 1% petit verdot.

- Zekun Shuai (04/2025)

As to the Grand Vin, the 2024 Château Lafite-Rothschild is based on 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot, resting in 90% new oak. It has classic Lafite aromatics of cassis, lead pencil shavings, and scorched earth, all leading to a beautifully textured, medium-bodied Pauillac with solid ripeness, a pure, layered mouthfeel, ripe yet present tannins, and outstanding length. It holds plenty of Lafite character while staying in the elegant, balanced, and moderately concentrated style of the vintage. I suspect it will be brilliant with just short-term cellaring, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it evolve gracefully over a broad drinking window. (05/2025)

Deep garnet-purple colored. Has a very perfumed nose of violets, red cherries, and iris, leading to a core of cassis, pencil lead, wild sage, and iron ore with a touch of fertile loam. The light-bodied palate is very light on its feet, issuing a lacy network of elegant red berry and mineral flavors, framed by ripe, fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and perfumed. (05/2025)

A blend of 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2024 Lafite Rothschild offers up aromas of minty blackcurrants, violets, incense, loamy soil and cigar box, followed by a medium-bodied, pillowy and open-knit palate built around tangy acids and powdery tannins, concluding with a discreetly herbal finish. Harvest began on September 24 and concluded on October 4, delivering a Lafite in something of a throwback style, nodding to the wines made here in the 1970s.

- William Kelley (04/2025)