1985 Château Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac, Bordeaux

This was a year of extremes: a very cold winter, down to minus 15 °C 59 °F) from 8 to 16 January, violent storms with hail at the beginning of June, Saharan drought, and heatwaves in August and throughout the autumn. Harvest started at the beginning of October, with a temperature of nearly 30 °C 86 °F). Finally, an ideal harvest offered a vintage of great quality and surprisingly abundant.

Second in the trio of vintages served blind at the 150th-anniversary celebration. It's very impressive and absolutely at its peak. Juicy and mineral with a sweet, rich nose. Neat and well-balanced with no excess of tannins. Really lively. Firm, salty and savoury. This is one of those Lafites that dances on the palate. Great balance. Bravo!

Drink 2000 - 2030

Medium red. Rather, unforthcoming nose hints at redcurrant, cedar, and faint herbaceousness. Strong in extract and high in acidity, but today, the wine flesh and fruit are dominated by its structure and grip. It is a marginally disappointing showing for Lafite, in which herbaceous hints and lack of flesh give the wine a slightly disjointed character. I would like to have found a greater mid-palate verve.

The 1985 Lafite is revealing more class and complexity than I predicted. A moderately intense, cedary, woody, herb and berry-scented bouquet is attractive. The wine is open-knit and ripe, with fine tannins, sweet, medium-bodied, mineral, and cassis-scented flavours, fine depth, and a graceful, harmonious feel. It is beginning to blossom and appears to possess more depth and character than I had thought.

The 1985 Château Lafite-Rothschild is fully mature yet still has classic Lafite elegance, with that tell-tale cedar pencil note in spades. Mature red and black fruits, cedar smoked tobacco, savoury herb, and leather notes give way to a medium-bodied, elegant, finesse-driven Lafite with resolved tannins and a beautiful overall balance. It's not massive or overtly concentrated, yet I love its grace, balance, and complexity. I would drink them if I had them.

Tasted at Hameau de Barbaron in Burgundy.

The 1985 Lafite-Rothschild is only a modest success in the context of the vintage. Here, it is totally outclassed by the 1985 Las Cases. Light, slightly loose-knit red berry fruit on the nose is complemented by warm gravel and smoky aromas, though it lacks a bit of energy. The palate is nicely balanced, not powerful, but focused, with adequate freshness. As mentioned in my previous tasting note, this has dispensed with some density in recent years, and if your expectations are modest, it remains enjoyable.

Drink 2019 - 2035

This is so beautiful now and exhibits real aged-Bordeaux character with currant-bush, tobacco and berry aromas that follow through to a medium body with firm tannins and a creamy finish. Still so together. The finish turns to cigar box, sandalwood and berry.

Drink or hold