Lafite 1997

[Kikujiro]

Someone gave me a bottle of Lafite Rothschild '97 for Christmas. I confess I don't know from big-name bordeaux, but I feel I should do the right thing by it. A trial account on Robert Parker tells me to drink it between now and 2015. Should I be holding out? For how long?

[Gavin Jones]

For a while at least. I'd advise to holdfast till people who drink that level of claret advise - like 10 years or so, even lowly (cru bourgeois) growths from 1997 are just starting to be approachable.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Acccording to a friend of mine who is a rather large wine wholesaler (this was at dinner last week) the '97 First Growths are drinking wonderfully right now. A piece of evidence that shows you the wine isnt going to get that much better is that Robert Parker's drinking window ends at 2015. An 18 year lifespan is an incredibly short one for a Bordeaux, especially a First Growth. Better vintages can last up to 100 years. So Gavin's suggestion that the wine is going to be in prime time at around 2007 sounds about right. But if you want to drink it now, you won't be missing anything unless your palate is attuned to mature claret. But if you are going to drink it, I would suggest at least a two hour decant and good glasses.

[Kikujiro]

Thanks, G&S. Hm. Maybe I should tune my palate while I wait.

[jaybee]

As I reported in another thread, I drank a 1966 Chateau Lascombes on Christmas Day. I bought the wine in 1969 and it has been in my cellar since. It was spectacular. Funny though, I read my tasting notes from 1975,when the wine was 9 years from the vintage. I noted, "delicate, perfumy and heady. Probably should be drunk in the next couple of years. Don't know how long lived it will be." That was written 27 years ago! ('66 was a near great year. I don't know what '97 was).