Château Lafite Rothschild 1991
Review of the Estate
Château Lafite Rothschild is one of the most renowned wine properties in the Médoc. Owned by Baron Eric de Rothschild and Lafite Rothschild is also one of the largest Médoc estates. The vineyards of Ch. Lafite are found at the northern tip of the Pauillac appellation, just below the boundary with St. Estephe.
There is evidence of an estate on this site as far back as the 14th century, and of exports of wine to the UK in the early 17th century. The current owners, the Rothschilds of the famous banking dynasty, bought the property in 1866, but this is a different side of the family from that which purchased Chateau Mouton Rothschild.
Vineyard
Surface area: 247 acres
Grape Varieties: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot
Average age of vines: 45 years
Density of plantation: 7,500 vines per hectare
Average yields: 48 hectolitres per hectare
Average cases produced: 17,500 per year
Plateau of maturity: 10-50 years
Château Lafite Rothschild 1991 Reviews / Tasting Notes
Robert Parker - The Wine Advocate
Point Score: 86
Lafite's light-bodied 1991 possesses moderate ruby color, a solid inner core of fruit, as well as potentially excessive tannin for its size and constitution. The wine exhibits Lafite's subtle personality with a leafy, tobacco, lead-pencil nose intertwined with sweet aromas of cassis. Dry, austere, and lacking length, it should turn out to be a good representation of Latife Rothschild in this so-so year.
James Suckling - Wine Spectator
Point Score: 85
A balanced, supple wine, with lovely blackberry, complex vanilla and ripe sweetness.
Neal Martin - The Wine Advocate
Point Score: 74-78
Tasted blind from a magnum at Wine magazine's 10-Year horizontal. I was not impressed. A dried out nose. Little structure on the palate with high acidity. Nowhere near the quality of Mouton-Rothschild 1991 or Latour 1991. There a faint echo of sweetness but no structure and incredibly austere. Poor. Tasted April 2001. Neal Martin,