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Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1974
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Description
Within the five rarefied first growths, Lafite is perhaps the wine with the best reputation for quality and longevity, commanding correspondingly high prices. It is considered by some to be the best wine to come out of Bordeaux. In 1815, Guillaume Lawton said of Château Lafite, “I consider it to be the the most elegant and delicate, with the finest substance of the three (Premier Crus). The location of its vines is one of the finest in the Médoc”. In 1855 the Château was ranked as a Premier Grand Cru in the famous classification that was prepared for the Universal Exhibition of that year. Lafite is also known as the ‘King’s wine’, after being introduced to the Court at Versailles by Maréchal Richelieu.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
It was very difficult to make good wine in 1974, but certainly a first-growth is expected to make a strict selection of its best lots and sell only the best. This wine is browning badly, has a tired, stale, flat taste, and is inexcusably diluted, and very short and thin on the palate. Quite poor. Last tasted, 11/82.
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