Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1961

robert_parker94

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

First tasted dining at Nobu in July 2001. Little sign of ageing. A fresh peppermint nose with black tea. Fully mature on the palate with supreme balance, though it lacks the depth of Latour. This is all elegance and subtlety rather than power. A sublime wine that drinking now, although it would perhaps disappoint those acquainted with the majestic Latour, which is in a different league. Tasted July 2001.

robert_parker

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

A Possible Legend Candidate Only once out of ten bottles has the 1961 merited an outstanding rating.

robert_parker84

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

This wine has a phenomenal reputation. However, I have now tasted the wine on eight separate occasions where I found it to be shockingly light, too acidic, disturbingly austere, and surprisingly ungenerous for a 1961. Moreover, recent tastings have suggested that the wine was clearly drying out. The color is light ruby with a brownish cast. The wine does have the penetrating ``cigar box'' Lafite bouquet, yet it seems shy, given the legendary status of this wine. Lacking the weight, concentration, and majesty of the great 1961s, this is a wine about which far too many writers have euphemistically said that it ``needed time,'' was ``elegant,'' or ``not properly understood,'' when they should have used the words overrated and disappointing. In the context of the vintage and the estate of Lafite-Rothschild, it represents an indifferent winemaking effort. Caveat emptor. Anticipated maturity: Now-2000. Last tasted, 12/89.

robert_parker91

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

(Magnum) After a dozen or more disappointing examples of this wine in a regular format (750 ml), I finally bestowed an outstanding rating on this renowned wine. This magnum possessed surprisingly deep color for Lafite, a sweet, caramel, cedary, lead pencil-scented nose, rich, medium-bodied, spicy flavors with noticeable tannin, high acidity, and a long finish. Other examples of the 1961 Lafite have displayed a light color with considerable orange/rush, attenuated, thin flavors, and excessive acidity. There has been speculation that the 1961 Lafite was bottled over an extraordinarily long time, and that the earlier-bottled examples possess more fruit than those bottled later. Who can say?

robert_parker93

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 1961 Lafite-Rothschild was opened at the last minute in response to an impassioned speech I made about the joys of mature Bordeaux and how I lamented the fact that too many wine lovers drink great Claret prematurely. It is actually 15 years since I last tasted this wine. In many wines, as is so often the case with this First Growth, it is very difficult to describe. Firstly, I noted the deepness of color with little ageing on the rim. The bouquet is utterly refined, in some ways not as complex as more recent vintages, yet it has a sense of authority and purpose. Vestiges of faded dark fruit mix with scents of an antique mahogany bureau and tobacco. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, degraded tannin. Surprisingly youthful, it is undoubtedly beautifully balanced with perfectly judged acidity. It does not possess the aristocracy of the 1961 Latour, not the complexity, yet there is something "princely" about this Lafite, blue blooded and yet old school. The glass was finished too quickly—an effortless class act. Tasted March 2016.