1996 Lafon Rochet c'est arrive!

Lafon Rochet 1996 St. Estephe
I've been enamored with the 1996 vintage of this chateau for a long time. But more for what I hoped it could be than it actually was. The wine itself has been always highly aromatic, but either a bit too stern or dry to really get poetic about... No longer. The Lafon Rochet 1996 has arrived, sooner than the biggest stars of the 1996 vintage.

For starters, a drop-dead gorgeous bouquet, filled with the scents that first made you fall in love with Bordeaux... mature aromas of sweet cedar, smokey campfires, weathered cigarboxes, sun-dried blackcurrants, licorice-infused iodine... just a bouquet to admire and adore. The palate, while no more than medium-bodied modest, has at last revealed its inner sweetness, giving charm to its silky smooth texture and a refleshingly high acidity. There's an engaging spiceness to the fruit. The tannins are still mouthcoating and firm on the finish, but they are no longer ironesque and dominant. Not the last word in complexity or depth, but drinking at point tonight. I recall trying this wine in 2003, shortly after I joined BWE, and it was hard as nails but full of promise. Today, it's sails are unfurled. Bravo. 93 pts.

thanks. will dig out my lone bottle. Think a lot of the '96 lower midtier wines are beginning to show well

It's (finally) a treat, Dale, but if you've only one bottle, it should easily hold for another 5 years too.

Thanks for the encouraging report. I have a few bottle of this. Some of the less senior left-bankers 96s are now drinking very well, e.g. Poujeaux, justifying those who had faith in the vintage.

[Jenise]

Hmmm...maybe it's time to take another look at the '98, too.