Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1994 (1x150cl)

Lafite in a magnum is about as recognisable as a bottle gets in Hong Kong. A magnum holds two normal bottles, and the smaller ratio of air to wine means large formats typically age more slowly, so a thirty-year-old magnum often reads younger than the same wine in 75cl.

This is a table-of-eight bottle - a milestone dinner, a wedding, a serious client night. It is over thirty years old, so condition varies from bottle to bottle and nobody can tell before the cork is out. Stand it upright a couple of days ahead and decant slowly off the sediment.

Tasting notes

Pauillac blends are usually Cabernet Sauvignon led, typically showing cassis, cedar and graphite when young. At this age the style generally turns savoury - dried dark fruit, tobacco leaf, sandalwood and forest floor - with tannins that have mostly softened out.