Carruades de Lafite
⏳ Drinking Window
2026 - 2046
🍷 Vintage Profile
The 2016 vintage in Pauillac began with an exceptionally wet spring that replenished water reserves ahead of a dry, sun-drenched summer, though cool nights preserved dynamic natural acidity throughout maturation. Mid-September showers relieved hydric stress on the gravel terraces just in time to facilitate flawless phenolic ripening across the early-ripening Merlot and later-maturing Cabernet parcels. The resulting wine balances plush, fine-grained tannins with crystalline freshness and tension, displaying remarkable precision rather than excessive weight. Universally heralded as a benchmark modern Left Bank vintage, this 2016 bottling is entering its prime drinking plateau in 2026 and possesses the structural equilibrium to cellar comfortably through 2040.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted rack of lamb, grilled ribeye steak, duck breast
✨ Technical Specifications
Carruades de Lafite takes its name from the Carruades plateau, a historic group of vineyard plots acquired by the estate in 1845, situated adjacent to the main Lafite hilltop. The 2016 vintage is celebrated as a modern classic in Pauillac, shaped by a dramatic growing season of extremes. A remarkably wet spring replenished the deep gravel soils, providing a vital water reserve that sustained the vines through an exceptionally hot, dry summer. Perfect autumn conditions allowed for a slow, leisurely harvest, yielding grapes with incredible phenolic ripeness and striking freshness. The wine was aged for 18 to 20 months in French oak barrels crafted at the estate's own cooperage, resulting in a second wine of astonishing structure, elegance, and aromatic complexity that closely mirrors the grandeur of its older sibling.
🍾 About the Producer
Château Lafite Rothschild stands as an archetype of Médoc nobility and timeless viticultural refinement. With recorded feudal roots tracing to 1234 and extensive plantings established around 1680 by Jacques de Ségur, the estate rose to global renown when Baron James de Rothschild acquired it in 1868. Perched on Pauillac's highest gravel plateau bordering Saint-Estèphe, the vineyard spans deep, well-draining Günzian gravel over tertiary limestone and marl subsoils, buffered by the maritime influence of the Gironde estuary. Under the modern leadership of Saskia de Rothschild and Technical Director Eric Kohler, Lafite transitioned entirely to certified organic farming. The estate's cellar program balances parcel-by-parcel fermentation with aging in barrels crafted at its on-site cooperage. The eponymous Grand Vin, dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon with measured proportions of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, alongside second wine Carruades de Lafite, offers a benchmark profile defined by graphite, cedar, and exquisite aromatic finesse.
🍇 Grapes
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot (dominant), Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot
🍷 ABV
13.5%