tel: +44 (0)20 8339 9112
Ditton Wine Traders (DWT)
DWT - making fine wine accessible

2 May 2009Duhart Milon, the next Carruades de Lafite?

I think it should be. There are compelling reasons for Duhart Milon to eclipse Carruades de Lafite as the next best thing that Lafite has to offer.

Have a look at below table, comparing Lafite Rothschild, Carruades de Lafite, l'Evangile and Duhart Milon

           Lafite Rothschild            Carruades de Lafite                          l'Evangile                       Duhart Milon
   Vintage      Parker      Price       Vintage      Parker     Price      Vintage      Parker         Price      Vintage      Parker         Price
2000 100 £9,500   2000 90 £1,500   2000 96 £1,600   2000 90 £550
2001 94 £2,350   2001 87 £1,200   2001 91 £635   2001 89 £410
2002 94 £2,300   2002 87 £1,200   2002 90 £600   2002 89 £370
2003 100 £6,250   2003 93 £1,300   2003 88 £650   2003 92 £500
2004 95 £2,400   2004 90 £1,300   2004 93 £640   2004 91 £400
2005 96 £6,200   2005 89 £1,300   2005 95 £2,150   2005 94 £430
2006 97 £3,200   2006 90 £925   2006 93 £940   2006 92 £300
2007 91.5 £2,000   2007 84 £600   2007 89 £790   2007 87 £250
2008 99 £3,200   2008 92 £695   2008 94 £635   2008 94 £300

What these four wines have in common is that they are all produced by Domaines Barons Rothschild. As such, they all bear the famous 5-arrow Lafite family crest.

These 5 arrows are a bit of gold dust. As I'm sure you are aware of, China absolutely loves Lafite. It's the ultimate status symbol. Why this is so, nobody really knows as is apparent from Jancis Robinsons entertaining article "The Legend of Lafite". In its wake, everything else produced by Lafite basks in the same sunlight. Carruades de Lafite – a nice wine but judging by Robert Parker nothing particularly special – has reached extraordinary pricelevels, as it is considered the "Petit Lafite". With most mature vintages priced at GBP 1,200+, Carruades is as expensive as some vintages of Mouton Rothschild and Haut Brion, both first growths. Remember, Carruades is not part of the Bordeaux Crus Classes classification of 1855. As such, it is remarkable that it commands prices on par with some of the First Growths. As mentioned, the reason for this is because it bears the 5 arrow Lafite family crest.

Lafite produce more wines that are in demand in China: Caro from Argentina – a joint venture with the famous Catena family and Los Vascos from Chile are the ones that get most demand from Asia. There's also l'Evangile, a famous Pomerol priced accordingly, as you can see in above table. 

And then there's Duhart Milon. Easily outscoring Carruades and, especially since 2002 at least as good as l'Evangile, Duhart Milon is much cheaper than both of them. To me it seems Duhart Milon has so far been overlooked by the Asian market. And I think this is about to change, for 4 reasons: One, as China becomes more and more educated about wine, they will pay more and more attention to critics reviews and less to labels. Duhart having higher scores than Carruades, this should shift attention to Duhart Milon. Two, Carruades de Lafite is very dificult to find, now that a very sizeable chunck of production has been bought up by Asia. Three, I have recently been selling more and more Duhart Milon, indicating that demand is picking up. And finally (four) Duhart Milon does also bear the 5 arrow crest.

One last thought: Robert Parker actually scored the Duhart Milon 2008 at 93-95+. Does this best vintage since 2000 look like a good deal to you?

 

email a comment or suggestion

Problems with the site? Please let us know

© Ditton Wine Traders 2008-2012

site developed by Mark Iliff, Talespinner