2019 vs 2020 Lafite-Rothschild

WINE TALK
1

Serious question here for fans who have tried both.

Hypothetical situation-

  • You are a Lafite fan with a six pack of the 2019. You have not tried the wine.

  • You have tried the 2020 and found it quite promising, but are worried if it would outlive you, so you do not own any bottles.

  • You are 50 years old and have reason to believe you could last another 30+ years.

  • You think the 1990 has been in a perfect place for a solid decade and just starting to turn the corner to a long slow decline and that the 1998 first growths are just now coming into their own.

  • Some of your favorite Pauillac vintages are 1985, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2008 and 2015.

You have done someone a favor and can have either a six pack of 2019 Lafite or a six pack of 2020 Lafite as a thank you. You are not planning to buy either wine in the open market in the near future- so this is a true one or the other scenario. The intention is to eventually drink- so the answer is not automatically which one is more expensive right now or might be more expensive later.

Would you opt to have a second box of the 2019, or a box of the 2020 to go along with your existing 2019?

2

Try a bottle of the 2019 before deciding

3

I would get the 20.

4

Knowing some of the back story, I think the 2019 is $100 less, so would opt for that, as you can probably trade it later.

5

Different story- I am being gifted one or the other on this occasion. Business has been mighty busy all of a sudden lately.

6

I do have a tasting bottle of the 2019 at hand, but it has been promised for a fall NY tasting. And this decision must be made today.

For all practical purposes, our hypothetical person could buy more of one or the other down the road if desired- but is trying to make the most of what birds are in the hand (or about to be in the hand) and try to continue on a path of not buying too much in future at the kinds of price levels we are living with these days.

7

Damn, heckuva favor.

8

Get 20 so you can do side by side comparisons years hence.

1 Like
9

2nd 6 pack of 2019

10

I tasted 2019 and 2020 two times each, one time 19 and 20 side by side. 2019 is more backward than the 2020 and really needs a lot of time. 2020 will drink earlier.

1 Like
11

It stands to reason that if you don’t have any 20, you won’t know what you are missing. If you drink through your 6x 19 and still have some 20s you don’t like as much, you will regret not taking the 19s. So the safe move is to get another case of 19.

12

I’d say, get the ‘20. You’ll want to compare them.

1 Like