1962 Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac

The 1962 Château Lafite-Rothschild is another example of the vintage that I had not drunk in a very long time, as the last time this lovely wine crossed my path was also all the way back in 2007. And I had never tasted the wine in magnum! At our recent spring tasting of the ’62 vintage, the Lafite out of magnum was one of the stars of the show, offering up a supremely elegant, complex and seamless bouquet of sweet cassis, dark berries, a lovely touch of red fruit, cigar wrapper, a gorgeously refined base of soil tones, sweet nutskin, dried roses, a dollop of orange peel and cedary oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, seamless and silky, with lovely depth of fruit, vibrant soil signature and grip, impeccable focus and balance, melting tannins and a very, very long, energetic and hauntingly complex finish. Out of magnum, this is simply a magical vintage of Lafite at the absolute peak of its powers. I am sure it is still lovely out of regular-sized format, but oh this magnum was simply singing!