The most tannic and textured Carruades ever. Full-bodied, big and powerful. Very, very long. New style?

While few people get excited about second wines, the reality today is that the top estates are making such a strict selection that their second wines are unquestionably equivalent to the grand vins of a few decades ago. Case in point: the 2016 Carruades de Lafite, a brilliant wine that stands up with the top wines in Pauillac. Offering a medium to full-bodied, seamless, incredibly pure style as well as classy black cherry fruits, graphite, licorice, and dried earth, it’s impeccably balanced, has no hard edges, and is already hard to resist. Drink it any time over the coming 20-25 years.

This has a dark profile, with gently steeped black currant and plum fruit, liberally inlaid with smoldering charcoal, tobacco and humus notes. Offers a bright iron accent on the finish, along with black tea and dried anise details. A charcoal dust texture lingers in the end. Best from 2023 through 2035.

Reviewer Name: James Molesworth

The 2016 Carruades de Lafite is soft, gentle and caressing, with silky tannins and a sweet, perfumed bouquet that gives the wine its sensual, inviting personality. Medium in body and gracious, the Carruades will be easy to drink and enjoy upon release. Sweet red cherry, plum, spice and floral notes are all laced together in this exquisite Pauillac. In 2016, the Carruades has a bit more Merlot than is typically the case.

Drinking Window: 2020 - 2030

Reviewer Name: Antonio Galloni

Review Date: 1st January 2019

A blend of 49% Merlot, 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, the deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Carruades de Lafite opens with expressive baked plums, Morello cherries and blackcurrant cordial scents with touches of stewed tea, bay leaves and tilled soil plus a waft of tree bark. Medium-bodied with a great mid-palate core of red and black fruits, it has a solid, grainy frame and compelling freshness, finishing long and minerally.

Drinking Window: 2019 - 2034

Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Review Date: 30th November 2018

The 2016 Carruades de Lafite contains more Merlot than Cabernet Sauvignon. It has a tightly wound bouquet featuring tightly coiled black fruit and hints of brine and sea spray. I appreciate the aromatics, but it needs a little more intensity. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin. This is very well balanced, with gentle grip, and very pure in the mouth, offering blackberry, bilberry and a touch of white pepper toward the quite persistent finish. Very fine.

Drinking Window: 2021 - 2036

Reviewer Name: Neal Martin

Review Date: 18th January 2019

The 2016 Carruades de Lafite has a richer, more opulent bouquet compared to its peers, featuring intense blackberry, boysenberry and cassis fruit, if perhaps not displaying the precision of other Pauillacs. The medium-bodied palate is not quite as luxurious as the aromatics, displaying supple tannins and a slightly powdery texture. There’s good depth here and fine acidity, plus plenty of black pepper toward the finish. Fine. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting.

Drinking Window: 2021 - 2036

Reviewer Name: Neal Martin

Review Date: 1st August 2020