1982 Château Lafite Rothschild***

The best examples of this are simply great. Elegant, floral, refined, and packed with sweet, spicy, red fruits. cigar wrappers, currants, and cherries. There is length, energy, lift, freshness, and complexity.

As is often the case with Lafite, this was the most reserved of the five 1855 1st Growths on opening, showing rose petals and finessed red fruits. It then performed a sleight of hand in the glass, slowly but surely building in concentration and pleasure, layering tobacco, slate, smoked earth, sweet blackberry puree, pencil lead, oyster shell and mint leaf. I last tasted it two years ago, and it has barely budged since, suggesting that there remains many decades ahead. Effortlessly drinkable, a vintage that more than lives up to the legend. Estate director Jean Crété recorded that it was aged in 'primarily new oak', although was not more specific than that (somewhere north of 70-80% is likely). 40hl/h yield, around 10% higher than average, with harvest beginning on September 16, the same date as in 1976. Baron Eric de Rothschild owner, and this was the last year with Emile Peynaud as consultant. Charles Chevallier would also join the following year, in 1983, as deputy technical director.

The 1982 Lafite-Rothschild was a bottle with impeccable provenance, having been stored at the renowned La Tour d'Argent restaurant for its entire lifetime before being auctioned. Backward and youthful on the nose, this is intense with black fruit infused with cedar and graphite, gaining delineation with time yet still warning that it's being broached too young. Likewise, the palate is intense, framed by filigree tannins, and delivers the kind of symmetry that leaves you in awe. With a gentle grip on the finish, this is an awesome 1982 First Growth, but it needs more time. Tasted at the Lafite-Rothschild vertical at Ami restaurant in Hong Kong.