1970 Lafite-Rothschild, Pauillac

The 1970 Lafite-Rothschild is a vintage I have not encountered for many years, and frankly, I never expected it to perform so well. There's lovely delineation and vitality on the nose with candied orange peel infusing the pretty and pure red fruit, scents of graphite surfacing with time. There is a wonderful sweet core of red fruit on the palate. This is a fine-boned First Growth with panache and verve. More tender than Latour, more complex than Mouton, this might be my First Growth de choix in 1970. (NM)

Gentle russet colour, softly spoken aromatics. This was one of the best vintages of the 1970s (and high yielding, so you have a fairly good chance of still finding bottles), and at 51 years old shows just how moreish Lafite becomes with age. Aromatics major on campfire, brushed leather, wild strawberries, touches of soy, oyster shell salinity with brambled autumn fruits, earth and softly spun tannins. At this point, if you are opening it there is no need to decant, but you can expect it to stay at this balanced, finessed and harmonious level for another decade at least. At this point the maceration would have been a relatively short 15-20 days in large sized oak casks, with longer barrel ageing than today (around 30% new, and even then from barrels made by their own estate cooperage). Harvest began October 2. It was seen as excellent quality at the time (and little did they know only one other vintage in this whole decade would rival it).