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Château Lafite-Rothschild 2002

After a few weeks of Ligérian weekend wines, from Domaine Huet, Paul Prieur et Fils and Jean-Christophe Mandard, it is now time to head back to Bordeaux. And this week I’m putting on my best bib and tucker as I pull the cork on the 2002 vintage from one of the region’s first growths, Château Lafite-Rothschild.

Yes, Lafite-Rothschild. And yes, the 2002 vintage.

I am not sure I could present a suitably potted history of Château Lafite-Rothschild on this page and do justice to this historic property, the origins of which lie many centuries in the past. So if you will forgive me, I will direct those wanting to read a little more about this Rothschild estate to my Lafite-Rothschild profile, which includes a complete history, reflections on the Lafite Phenomenon (the unanticipated price escalation seen since the turn of the century), a full account of the vineyards, detail on the winemaking and the team behind the wines, and tasting notes back as far as the 1914 vintage. I don’t believe there is a more complete account online or in print today.

As for the 2002 vintage, however, this does perhaps warrant a little refresher. This was a difficult season for the Bordeaux region, and certainly one of the more troubled vintages of the new century’s first decade. The weather during the flowering was changeable, with some rain at times, resulting in a protracted flowering over four weeks, with coulure and millerandage along the way. The scene was set for a reduced and heterogeneous crop.

Sometimes heterogeneity can be ameliorated by positive summer conditions, bringing the maturity of the grapes closer together, but the weather through July and August remained damp and cool. Despite this, the vines did their best, and véraison came and went. Even so, the outlook for the vintage was bleak, and it was a prolonged period of dry and warm weather throughout September which brought the fruit to a more desirable degree of maturity. At Lafite, after storms and heavy rainfall on September 20th and 21st, the harvest of the Merlots began on September 26th, moving on to the Cabernet Francs and Cabernet Sauvignons from October 1st, concluding with the Petit Verdots on October 8th. The yield was indeed low, reduced by as much as 30% on some parcels.

Château Lafite-Rothschild Pauillac 2002

At the time winemaking was overseen by Charles Chevallier, who had been working with the Rothschilds (at Lafite-Rothschild and then Rieussec) since 1982, taking on the role of technical director at Lafite in 1994. He was the first person I met when I first visited the property all those years ago, and he was a constant presence there until he stepped down from this role in 2016. With his team Charles fashioned a wine dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, which accounted for 87% of the blend, along with 9.5% Merlot and 3.5% Cabernet Franc, with none of the Petit Verdot making the cut in this vintage. The selection was understandably strict, with just 47% of an already significantly reduced crop going into the grand vin.

On the whole the wine trade greeted the 2002 vintage with a lukewarm murmur. It was a cool vintage saved by an Indian summer, and the wines reflected this, tending towards leaner midpalates. It was an era in which Bordeaux was still looking back, to the wetter vintages of the 1990s, and technological interventions and experimentation were rife; the 2002 vintage saw the firing-up of reverse osmosis (water removal through high-pressure osmotic filtration) and entropy (the removal of water through low-pressure low-temperature evaporation) machines all across the region, and their use extended to the first growths. Including, reputedly, Lafite.

Nevertheless, while the trade were down on the vintage, and remain so today, some critics had something positive to say. Well, one critic did, and at the time there was only one critical voice that mattered. Robert Parker did not attend the primeur tastings as usual (which did nothing to help the vintage’s commercial potential), citing security concerns consequent upon the Iraq War (which itself did nothing for consumer interest in the wines). When he eventually tasted the 2002 Lafite-Rothschild he tagged it as a potential wine of the vintage, and likened it first to the 1996 vintage, and in a later assessment to 1976. This latter comparison feels like faint praise; I like 1976 in the Loire Valley (it is a really good vintage for Bourgueil, Chinon and Vouvray) but its appeal in Bordeaux is more patchy. I do wonder whether it might be a typo, and he had 1996 in mind again?

The question mark which hung over the vintage’s quality, combined with the global situation and Parker’s apparent lack of interest (not true, but it is how it was perceived), meant the 2002 vintage was sold at a knock-down price. It was one of only a handful of vintages I felt I could divert some of my mortgage payments and the fund for my children’s shoes into buying first growths instead. And so, nearly 25 years later, here we are.

Even with the vintage’s rather modest reputation I would never write off a wine of this calibre (a positive encounter with the Château Latour of 1969 – one of the most execrable vintages of the 1960s – a few years ago proved to me that the best of Bordeaux can transcend a difficult vintage). And so I opened and decanted the 2002 Château Lafite-Rothschild, leaving it for a couple of hours to acclimatise and open up. At 24 years it has a fresh claret hue in decanter and glass, still dark and vibrant, and is certainly not showing any significant age. There follows a quite classically styled nose, beginning with dried blackcurrant, juniper berry, black pepper and sloe berry, veined with more complex and intriguing notes of black liquorice, black olive and Provençal herbs, including sage and thyme. With time, seams of green peppercorn and fresh garden mint also come to the fore, indicators of that cool growing season still in evidence. Sinewy and fresh on the palate, this just touches on a presence I can honestly describe as medium-bodied, with a lithe core of currant and juniper fruit, leading into a long and savoury finish. I like the cool and tightly formed structure here, with its finely honed tannins, still firmly packed in place, impressive considering this is a lesser vintage now approaching its first quarter-century. All in all, this is a classy Lafite, at this stage still youthful and full of promise. No rush here; while I have met many 2002s already on their way downhill, this is still confidently on the plateau. And arguably on the way up. Drink or hold. The alcohol on the label is 12.5%. 93/100 (7/9/26)

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