Lafite Rothschild Castle

Lafite Rothschild Castle (Château Lafite Rothschild) in France is a prestigious winery owned by the famous and powerful banking family.

The Rothschild family's winemaking tradition dates back to the second half of the 19th century, and precisely to 1868, the year in which James de Rothschild bought the famous Château Lafite.

However, it was in 1973 that, after more than a century of family history connected to the world of wine, James's great-grandson, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, strengthened the company properties, acquiring two "Crus Bourgeois" in Listrac and Moulis en Médoc: Château Clarke and Château Malmaison.

Since then the rise has never stopped: by rigorously restoring all the structures and buildings, and giving way to systematic replanting, the "Compagnie Vinicole Baron Edmond de Rothschild" was founded which, while maintaining a family dimension, has open to modernizations and innovations also crossing French borders, to land in South Africa and the Argentine Andes.

Experience and traditions dictate the pace both in the vineyard and in the cellar, so between the rows the vines are grown with extreme care and in full respect of the environment and ecosystem, while in the vinification, aging and refinement phase, each production step is checked to offer the highest quality of the finished product.

There are many treasures kept in the castle, such as the ancient writing desk which contains a piece of the history of the French Republic: "in September 1870, Otto von Bismarck and Jules Favre, the foreign minister of the new French Republic, gathered at this table, kept in Château Lafite, to discuss an armistice ".

Jumping to 1970 we find a fashion shoot from L'élégance, where models pose in patent leather boots between oak barrels. The 1972 pages are a pop collage, with a sketch of a pair of lips left by Andy Warhol in the guest book.

Today Château Lafite is a place of worship, and its wine is one of the finest in the world. Among the incredible records, there is a bottle of 1787 auctioned by Christie's in 1985, for the modest sum of 156,000 dollars: it was thought that the bottle belonged to Thomas Jefferson's collection (but the authenticity has been disputed).

The latest record was on 29 October 2010 when three bottles of 1869 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild were sold at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong for a whopping 232,692 dollars each.

Map: Lafite Rothschild Castle