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It's impossible to talk about the great wines of the Médoc without mentioning Château Lafite-Rothschild. A Domaine steeped in history, whose reputation and prestige are matched only by the legendary wines born there.
Ancient medieval seigneury, it was under Jacques de Ségur, from a family of Bordeaux parliamentarians, that the first vines were planted in the 1670's. The wine gradually acquired an excellent reputation thanks to technical progress, at the royal court of Versailles but also across the Channel with the expansion of trade with England. Then in 1787, Thomas Jefferson, US ambassador to France at the time, praised it in his travel notes.
The Château Lafite was promoted to the rank of Ier Grand Cru Classé in 1855 on the occasion of the Paris Universal Exhibition, a distinction it shares with the Château Latour, Château Haut-Brion and Château Margaux, as well as the Château Mouton Rothschild since 1973.
The subsequent rise of Château Lafite owes much to the Rothschild family, with Baron James de Rothschild acquiring the estate in 1868 and attaching his name to it from that date. When Baron Eric took over the reins in 1974, everything was gradually put in place with the aim of modernizing and improving performance, in order to reveal the exceptional potential of the terroir. Today, his... See more ...
Presentation
As a result of a careful selection process over the last twenty years, Carruades has characteristics similar to those of a grand vin, but with its own personality thanks to a higher proportion of Merlot in its composition and to parcels that are now clearly identified as producing Carruades. The origin of the name comes from the plateau des Carruades, the place name of a group of plots adjoining the croup of Château and acquired in 1845 by Château Lafite. In the 19th century, Carruades wines were marketed separately from Château Lafite before finally being included. The Carruades name was then adopted for the Second wine of Château Lafite, first called "Moulin des Carruades", then "Carruades de Lafite" since the 1980s.
The vintage
The climatic conditions of the 2011 vintage were atypical, mobilizing all the vigilance and know-how of our technical teams.
It was a very early vintage, with a very hot spring, low rainfall at the start of the year, then higher in the summer, and the persistent threat of powdery mildew (a vine disease more commonly found in the Rare region).
Then, just as the harvest was getting underway, a major hailstorm in the northern part of Pauillac and Saint Estèphe on September 1 threw the schedule into disarray. The affected plots were harvested first, without any major damage given the earliness of the grapes, which were already very ripe!
Situation
The Pauillac appellation is located on the Rive gauche of the Gironde estuary, around 40 km north of Bordeaux. Benefiting from the influence of the estuary and a great diversity of soils originating from the Massif Central and the Pyrenees, Pauillac combines exceptional climatic and geological conditions to produce great wines.
Terroir
Château Lafite Rothschild is located to the north of the Pauillac appellation, on the edge of Saint-Estèphe. The vineyard comprises three main areas: the slopes around Château, the plateau des Carruades to the west and a 4.5-hectare parcel in the Saint-Estèphe appellation. The surface area is 112 ha and the soils are made up of fine, deep, well-drained, well-exposed gravel mixed with Aeolian sands on a tertiary limestone subsoil.
Winemaking
Carruades de Lafite is made according to the traditional winemaking methods of Bordeaux. Alcoholic fermentation is carried out in wood, cement and stainless steel vats. Light pumping-over helps to Extra extract tannins and color. They are carried out according to the characteristics of each vat. Total maceration time is approximately 20 days.
Following malolactic fermentation, the wines are filled into French oak barrels made by Tonnellerie des Domaines to Pauillac for a maturation period of around 16 months.
Tasting
Closed nose. Full-bodied, fleshy mouthfeel. Well-rounded, long wine.
Notes of red fruit and tobacco. Aromas of coffee, tobacco and spices.
The palate is greedy, fleshy with well-marked tannins.
Round, long and elegant.
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