Some things in life are so eternally cool that they need only one name. Converse. Coke. Elvis. Madonna - no one ever mentions the All Stars, the a-Cola,the Presley or the Ciccone that should rightly follow. And Lafite is the Elvis of the wine world. The Rosthchild, that would normally come after Lafite is just that - an afterthought. Because Lafite, my friends, is one of le best.

But we are not here to talk about Chateau Lafite. Move over and make way for the estate’s younger and sexier brother: Carruades de Lafite. This second wine scores consistently high, rivalling some first growths, and embodies the excellence of the Lafitte spirit admirably. Full bodied? Yes. Elegant? Yes. Significant ageing potential? Oh, yes. However, while Carruades de Lafite might present certain similar characteristics to the Grand Vin, it very much has its own personality. This is due to the higher proportion of Merlot and to specific plots that are used to produce Carruades.

Lafite is the Gascon term "la hite" meaning "small hill". The name Carruades comes from the plateau where the grapes are grown, a group of plots acquired in 1845 just next to the vines on the Château hilltop. Carraudes was marketed separately in the 20th century from the Lafite stable, under the name of Moulin des Carruades. It became Carruades de Lafite in the 1980s, a fact worth knowing if you are looking for 30+ year old vintages. The terroir, so important when investing in wine of this calibre is good, very close to the character of the great premier crus classe for which the chateau is known. However, Carrudes enjoys a 50 to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30 to 50% Merlot varietal and includes anything from 0 to 5% Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

One of the main differences between Carruades and Lafite proper is that Carruades is aged for 16-20 months, 80% of which is in oak barrels (but only 10% of these are new). This is versus a longer aging process for the first wine, (80-20 months) in 100% new oak barrels. Yields are also higher: Carruades' yield is around 20,000 cases, the Premier Cru averages 16,000. Carruades makes up for around a third of Lafite’s production.