2014 Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) Reserve Speciale Pauillac 750 ml

“Gold Medal” quality in Pauillac’s 2014 Classic Vintage

The early scuttlebutt on the 2014 vintage in Bordeaux suggests that it’s the best vintage since the watershed 2010. After tasting more than 200 samples of the vintage at Cipriani in NYC two weeks ago, we wholeheartedly agree with the likes of Robert Parker and Wine Spectator. The region of Pauillac seemed to shine brightest in the soon-to-be classic vintage, and even in a star-studded lineup, the châteaux of Lafite Rothschild stood out.

Lafite Rothschild had a field day in 2014, turning out two colossal Pauillacs.

The first we tasted at Cipriani was the flagship, Château Lafite Rothschild. Amid the throngs white-shoed connoisseurs, we had to elbow our way to the table to score a few drops from the solitary bottle. It was magnificent, everything that First Growth Pauillac should taste like: dense, silky textured, mineral, and with a finish that lasts longer than it takes to cook a hard-boiled egg. As Neal Martin wrote for Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, it’s “a straight down the line classic.” It’s always a treat for us to get a chance to taste Château Lafite Rothschild, as it remains a bellwether for the vintage for us here at WineAccess, the $500 yardstick that we measure every wine of the vintage against for good measure.

There was one wine from Pauillac that earned its place alongside the Château Lafite Rothschild — a wine they also produce, comprised partially from grapes grown on the Château Lafite Rothschild, meant to be consumed immediately, and without a $500-$2,000 price tag, depending on the vintage. That wine is the 2014 Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) Pauillac Réserve Spéciale.

The Wine Advocate contends Pauillac’s 2014 is the kind of vintage that justifies “its gilded reputation.”

“It is a reputation built on decades of furnishing wine-drinkers with the most exceptional booze known to man and in 2014 it takes the gold medal in terms of quality,” Martin wrote in the Advocate. “And you don't need too many brain cells to work out why. Two words: Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2014 vintage was predesigned to benefit later ripening grape varieties and generally, the more in your vineyard, the better chance you had of making a great wine. And nowhere does Cabernet dominate and flourish as in Pauillac.”

The Wine Advocate suggests 2014 is possibly Bordeaux’s best vintage since 2010. Wine Spectator agreed, calling it a “Goldilocks vintage” that produced “pure and precise reds.”

A near perfect spring and fruit set gave way to a humid summer with pockets of rain. The Bordelais prepared for another year of intense vineyard and canopy management. But then a sunny September and October ushered in perfect conditions. Cabernet Sauvignon grown on the Left Bank benefited the most, as grapes experienced even, slow ripening through to harvest that made for deeply concentrated wines.

Inky black with ruby hues at the rim. Subtle and elegant, with scents of black currant, dried fruit, black pepper, and cocoa powder. The palate is pure power and muscle with fine-grained tannins and a lead-pencil minerality. The finish is long and fine-tuned with rétro-olfactory aromatics. Drink now to 2030.

The recently released 2014 Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) Pauillac Réserve Spéciale is a gorgeous wine. We took all of it on the spot and WineAccess is now the only way you can buy it in the USA. Just $39 on today’s Direct Import, straight from the cellars of Château Lafite Rothschild. Just 100 cases are up for grabs, for WineAccess members who want an early taste of a modern classic.