Why This Wine From DBR Lafite Is One of the Best Values in Bordeaux

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Domaines Barons de Rothschild recently opened up its ample portfolio where we could taste bottles from Chile, Argentina, and Bordeaux, showing how this wine empire spans not only continents, but the price spectrum as well. In this master class we tried bottles ranging from $24 to $1,400 and a pair of wines from neighboring vineyards really caught our attention: Château Lafite Rothschild 2018 and Château Duhart-Milon 2018.

While Château Lafite Rothschild barely needs an introduction, it’s important to note that beyond being recognized as one of the world’s best and most famous wines, it is a Premier Cru Classé, or First Growth wine, based on the 1855 classification. Meanwhile, the wine from its neighbor, Château Duhart-Milon, which the Rothschilds acquired in 1962, is a 4th Grand Cru Classé. These two Bordeaux estates share a large plot that is divided by a walking path, and both vineyards are managed by the same agricultural team. If you look at the map below, you will note that Duhart-Milon’s vineyards are blue, while Lafite Rothschild’s are purple. The greatest and most obvious disparity between the two wines is the price: The current vintage of Duhart-Milon is $120, while Lafite Rothschild goes for $1,400, with older vintages fetching far more. And we’re here to tell you that after tasting these wines side by side, at $120 the Duhart-Milon is a steal.

Both wines are made under the direction of winemaker Eric Kohler, who has been with Château Lafite Rothschild for 30 years. Their composition is not identical: Château Lafite Rothschild 2018 is made with 91 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5 percent Merlot, and 0.5 percent Petit Verdot, while Château Duhart-Milon 2018 is a blend of 65 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 35 percent Merlot. The winemaking regimen is slightly different in each cellar, but there are more similarities than differences in how the wines are crafted.

Of course, while the estates are adjacent, that doesn’t make the land identical. “What differs is the depth of the soil, the quantity of clay and its positioning in the landscape, along with the composition of the gravelly soils,” says DBR Lafite chairperson Saskia de Rothschild. The age of the vines is different as well. “Duhart has a lower average age, as in 2016 we started an important replanting process for Duhart-Milon’s vineyards.” Pointing to these factors, de Rothschild says that two vineyards don’t react in the same way to “water stress,” which can refer to intense heat or drought, as experienced late in the 2018 season, or unrelenting rain, which affected both estates from winter through July. She tells Robb Report that these conditions caused more stress on the vines at Duhart, which created “a little bit more opulence in the glass.”

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According to de Rothschild, Charles Chevalier, the former technical director at both estates, referred to Duhart-Milon as “a young guy just out of military service: still a bit austere and who needed to loosen up.” She contends that Duhart-Milon 2018 is “definitely looser than its predecessors. It has a real backbone of freshness that comes from the oak patina and a few years of bottle aging.”

We found Château Duhart-Milon 2018 to have beautiful aromas of blackberry, sage leaf, and dried thyme. It is slightly savory on the palate, offering notes of dried herbs de Provence mingling with blackberry, cassis, and dark chocolate flavors. This full-bodied wine has plush tannins that coat the tongue and gums and leave a slightly drying sensation before being counteracted by an underlying jolt of acidity that lingers on the palate alongside a soft hint of cocoa powder. We also found the Château Lafite Rothschild 2018 to be an incredible pour, but for around $120 a bottle, we know which one we’ll be stocking up on.