Lafite

A little history “en passant”

The great wines are always connected with fascinating stories and, in the case of the most rare and successful ones, it could be said that they are a part of history, like the Château Lafite Rothschild.
A medieval domain of Lafite is mentioned as early as the 14th century and even though there were probably already vines on the property the Lafite reputation began to be built by the Ségur family from the 17th century. Jacques de Ségur had the Lafite vineyard planted between the 1670s and the early 1680s. In 1695 his son, Alexandre, married the heiress to Château Latour; with the birth of their son, Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur, the two domains were unified once and for all and so began the famous history of vine-growing, which, over the centuries and despite dynastic crises, eventful changes in management and various calamities, has impassioned many connoisseurs.
From 1716, the marquis, Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur, undertook to consolidate the reputation of his wines, promoting them at the Court of Versailles and improving the wine-producing techniques. He earned the nickname “the wine prince”, whilst the Lafite wine earned the title “the king’s wine”, mainly thanks to the unconditional appreciation of the wine by cardinal Richelieu, for whom Lafite had been prescribed as a tonic.
On the eve of the French Revolution Lafite was already at the height of its winemaking legacy, so much so that it enthralled Thomas Jefferson, who was at the time serving as a young American ambassador to the Court of Versailles.
A further important step for Lafite was the acquisition of the castle by Baron James de Rothschild on 8th August 1868. The Baron, who was the head of the French branch of the Rothschild family, died 3 months after the purchase of the property, leaving it to his three sons: Alphonse, Gustave and Edmond. The same year is also memorable for the exceptional price attained by the wine (approximately the equivalent of 4,700 euros a tonne) which remained the record for about a century.
The end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th were marked by natural and historical disasters which took their toll on the Lafite property and its wine production.
The Rothschild barons regained possession of Château Lafite Rothschild at the end of 1945; Baron Elie completely reorganized the administration of the property, just as he became the instigator of the rebuilding of a market for great Bordeaux wines. His successor in the continual search for excellence by means of unceasing technical research and care of the vineyards is his nephew Eric de Rothschild.
After more than three centuries of history the wine from Château Lafite Rothschild, with its aromas of almonds and violets has no further need for introductions.

A wine of great maturity

The vineyard which produces Château Lafite Rothschild comprises of 3 large areas: the slopes which surround the castle, the flat ground of Carruades on the west and 4.5 hectares of land in nearby Saint Estèphe - making a total of 103 hectares of vines. The soil is “graves” (or gravelly), mixed with sand on a subsoil of tertiary limestone which is well-drained and well-exposed; Cabernet Sauvignon (71%), Merlot (25%), Cabernet Franc (3%) and Petit Verdot (1%) vines are grown. Globally the average age of vines is 30: those less than 10 years old do not produce grapes for Château Lafite Rothschild and the average age of suitable vines is about 40. Furthermore, about 18 hectares of vines are more than 50 years old and there is a small, ancient portion called « La Gravière », which was planted in 1886. Since 1962 the property has been managed by a single team which supervises the adjoining properties of Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Duhart-Milon. The techniques used in both the “châteaux” are identical: high levels of manual labour, from grape-harvest to bottling. The harvesting of each plot is kept separate to conserve initially, as far as possible, the identity of the territory where the grapes ripened.
At Lafite, tradition and technical progress complement each other. Fermentation is carried out in two kinds of vats: traditional ones in oak and stainless steel ones with automatic temperature control.
At the end of the alcoholic fermentation there is an initial tasting of the cuvée. After the malolactic fermentation the wine is put into barrels batch by batch.
Numerous tastings of each barrel take place in December, to guarantee the most stringent selection of the wine. The blending takes place in March, and the ageing period of 18 to 20 months follows. During this period, a series of procedures is carried out to precipitate out all the sediments and suspensions; finally in June the wine is ready to be bottled.
In the last ten years the average production of Château Lafite Rothschild and of its second wine, Carruades de Lafite, has been 45,000 cases a year.

Lafite