2015 Chateau Lafite Rothschild Pauillac 750 ml

Lafite Rothschild is a bucket-list wine in any vintage. But when it’s from a year like 2015—whose elegance in Pauillac dovetailed perfectly with into Lafite’s trademark finessed style—it’s even more. It’s perfection. 

Lafite is known for combining Pauillac’s innate richness with an aristocratic elegance, and this wine thrills on both a visceral and an intellectual level. That’s why Wine Enthusiast gave it a 100-point score and made it #1 on their Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2018.

Lafite has been one of the iconic wines of France since Louis XV and Thomas Jefferson both sang its praises in the 1700s, and it remains one of the most collectible wines in the world today. That status means the winery can afford to reinvest in quality like few others, from intensive vineyard management all the way to the cellar.

Lafite has their own cooperage, a rare luxury that allows them to tailor each barrel to the specific vineyard block it will contain. Combine that with various sizes of wood, stainless steel, and concrete fermentation tanks, and you have a recipe for nearly unmatched precision in the vinification and aging of their wines.

The 2015 Lafite comprises 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot, and likely represents about 40% of the total production of the estate, the kind of selectivity that the First Growths require. Winemaker Eric Kohler said “2015 is a rather hot vintage where we benefited from the ocean and river influences, helping to produce a fresh, concentrated, balanced wine at Lafite."

Whether you’re a connoisseur or an investor, you’re sure to be thrilled to have at least a few bottles in your cellar, and so will your grandkids.