1945 Château Lafite Rothschild

This bottle of 1945 Lafite-Rothschild comes from famous Graham Lyons cellar and was re-corked in 1983. It actually snowed at Lafite-Rothschild on 1 May that year when the vines were already 15 days in advance, summer saw sporadic hail and harvest commenced on 13 September with berries at miraculously ripe levels. What a wine! Deeper in color than the 1949 Lafite-Rothschild, the 1945 has a haunting bouquet, with vestiges of red fruit mixed with graphite, cold stone, crushed rose petals and briary. It gently builds in the glass and with aeration becomes ever more vivid and delineated. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannin, perfect acidity, pure and weightless, one of the most nuanced 1945s you will find. It is utterly sublime, never showing off and never trying too hard. It just shimmers with a pedigree that is undiminished after the passing decades. This might be one of the occasions where I prefer the Lafite-Rothschild to the more ostentatious 1945 Latour. Tasted at the Lafite-Rothschild dinner at Amuse Bouche in Hong Kong. (NM)

Pale ruby. Light. Very Lafite. Lots of acid. Very light 'aperitif' style. Palate whetter. Much lighter than most 45s. Such a contrast to Mouton 1945! Slightly dusty. Dry finish. Not intense. Lafite Lite. Hint of iodine. Fades a bit. (At this point I scored it 16.5, to drink 1960-1990.) But then it took on a bit of weight and flesh in the glass. Vibrant and long. Subtle. Peacock's tail. Not as concentrated as other 1945s but fine and linear. And then it faded. Funny! (JR)