March 8, 2024 - Pronounced nose intensity with notes of leather, charr wood, mushroom, smoke, toast, flora, black fruits. Medium+ acidity and medium+ tannin. Tannin is integrated and not harsh. Did not decant. Decanting around 2-3 hours will improve mouthfeel. Drinking well now or can cellar. In its optimal drinking window and can last many years.
January 26, 2024 - Whole Lotta Lafite; 1/26/2024-1/27/2024 (Wine Watch, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida): Very youthful and exuberant. Lots of red cherry and raspberry fruit, which is delicious. Somehow both very slightly hot on the finish yet gaining sweetness as well. No complexity yet. Nice acidity. I'm optimistic for the future but you can drink it now if you like fruit bombs, Bordeaux-style.
August 8, 2023 - Absolutely one of the finest bordeaux ever.
Top 3 wines I have ever had.
Color was near perfection, just a slight hint of bricking on the edge, ruby with a solid core.
Nose jumped out of the glass, magical mix of dark fruits and an almost perfumed nose,
On the palate everything in balance and surprisingly fresh.
Finish was sublime.
June 14, 2023 - Commanderie de Bordeaux: 2000 Lafite, LLC, & Cos (The Minikahda Club, Mpls): Very dark red/purple color. Double decanted and then slow-O for 4 hours, recorked and then slow-O again for an hour before serving. Drank a glass plus over 2.5 hours. Wow, mesmerizing nose from the start; perfumed with succulent red and black fruits; cassis, blood orange, deep red raspberry, fine leather, mint, so much earth and damp forest floor. The palate is ultra layered, ripe cassis, raspberry, brambly fruit of the forest berries, ultra tangy, charcoal, earthy, pencil, exciting, and blissful in it harmony and textural giving. This also has a mineral posture to go along with its impressive fruit and polished tannins - a true stunner. Yes, this still shows a youthful vigor, and I fully expect this to hit 3 digits in time, but it is immensely impressive as it is. Ranking: WOTN '00 Lafite, #2 '00 LLC, #3 '00 Cos.
February 8, 2023 - Decanted 2 hours.
Beautiful nose with a long finish.
A terrific birthday wine.
October 17, 2022 - IWFS Lafite Big Bottles (The Modern): Perhaps because I haven't spent a ton of time with this wine to me this is still in the obviously too young phase. It's lots of spices and again some black fruit and interestingly enough more integrated at this stage than the '90 (from a magnum which may explain some of the differences). There is an intensity here although you can see the finesse that Saskia references. It's drinking well but I'd want some more decades.
October 9, 2022 - Drank when home in moami
October 7, 2022 - Opened up a half-bottle to celebrate being back home after a fantastic summer and September elsewhere. Did not decant but and instead poured straight into the glass. It was not overpowering, but had a nice subtle palate with earthy overtones, currants, and ripening fruits. The tannins were soft and it had some length and duration to the flavor. Wonderfully mature and felt like it was totally drinkable now.
May 8, 2022 - The past 5-6 years have added a lot here. 2000 is bottled elegance. Everything is in place here. The wine has a beautiful sense of refinement, balance, silky tannins and layers of sweet, soft, red fruits that do not want to quit. This is one of the few vintages of Lafite that is better on the palate than it is on the nose. This is an incredible tasting experience that is only getting started. Unless you have a case and you cannot wait to dig in, give it a few more years in the cellar. With time, perhaps a decade or so, this will probably hit triple digits. Drink from 2025-2075.
May 6, 2022 - NOT blind
Although this is a highly rated wine, it was not at that level for me up against the 1989 or the 2008.
Maybe 10 or 20 years will give us a blockbuster.