1986 Château Lafite Rothschild

Community Tasting Notes (240) Avg Score: 95.4 points

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  3/16/2024 - liber Likes this wine: 92 Points

  4th of 12, decanted 45 minutes, perfect level, cork quite stained and slightly fungal, merest hint of rot on a very fine wine with a remarkable weight of fruit, tannins in this difficult vintage not fully resolved, more to it we thought than the 01 on same night but spoiled increasingly by cork taint (indeed we gave up on it after half the bottle), still rated a fine bottle, clean ones sould be VF+, ie 97+, hard to tell when this wine will peak. (It could be many years ahead!)

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  3/5/2024 - Derek Darth Taster wrote: 94 Points

  Epic night at Capasso. Tasted blind. Drank in Grassl Cru.
  Appearance is clear, deep intensity, ruby colour. Legs.
  Nose is clean, medium intensity, with aromas of dark earth, mint, tobacco, elegant graphite, blackberries, black cherries. Developing.
  On the plate, dry, medium+ acidity, medium- alcohol (12.5%), integrated smooth medium+ tannins, medium+ body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of tobacco, minty leaf, elegant graphite blackberries, black cherries, blackcurrant. Long finish.
  Very good quality. Silky elegance led me to guess Margaux appellation. Still quite fresh so I guessed 2000 vintage - off by more than 10 years! Long life ahead if the cork survives - the cork on this bottle crumbled and I had rescued it with a Durand.

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  3/3/2024 - aquacongas Likes this wine: 97 Points

  Blind, side by side with Mouton 1986
  Many preferred the Lafite, for me the Mouton was slightly in front. Still too young, elegant and powerful like. The Mouton with the better structure and compared to the last 3-4 bottles in better shape. 2 -3 decades ahead. 97

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  2/15/2024 - il_diavolo wrote: 97 Points

  Brilliant bottle that is mature but drinking well. The (black) fruit is there but it's the tertiary aromas that get you....ash, cedar, pencil lead. Extremely long with everything in balance. A wow wine, and I do think you would say that blind too (sometimes hard to avoid label drinking with these).

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  2/4/2024 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points

  As good, or better than any bottle of 86 Lafite I have ever tasted, time has been kind to this wine. The nose sports a complex array of spices, dried tobacco leaves cedar, leather, and bright red berries. The palate is energetic, firm, and most importantly, regal in character, with loads of ripe, bright, chewy, currants and cassis in the mid-palate and finish. This could be a 100-year wine. Drink from 2024-2080.

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