Austere and evasive in youth but deeply profound in age, Lafite is one of the five Medoc First Growths, and one of the two owned by branches of the Rothschild family. It is one of the oldest estates in Bordeaux - the ‘Seigneurie de la Hite’ domaine is noted on a document from 1234, though in those days it was all about cereal and cattle. Vineyards were not seriously laid out here until the 1680s, at the hands of Jacques de Segur, who laid out what would become many of Bordeaux’s great vineyards. By the time Baron James de Rothschild staked his claim in 1868, buying Lafite at a public auction, it already enjoyed a reputation as perhaps the greatest property in Bordeaux. The good Baron died three months later, but Lafite made its purchase price back for his children within a decade.

The twentieth century was a bit up and down. Lafite was a pioneer of chateau bottling (partly to combat wine fraud). The sixties are regarded as a poor period, as the wine was bottled barrel by barrel, leading to excessive bottle variation. In 1970 Lafite wisely introduced blending vats. With new cellars and more attention, quality soared from the 1980s. Prices exploded in the early 2000s as Lafite became ever more collectible and China in particular discovered an insatiable appetite for Lafite. That led to fraud once again being a big problem. Prices have cooled somewhat since that heady era.

Lafite lies in the far north of Pauillac, separated from St-Estephe by a small stream (the Jalle de Breuil). The strength of these vineyards is the deep gravel, up to 10 metres in some places, sometimes with pockets of black sand, and laid over a limestone bedrock. The La Graviere plot has some surviving Merlot vines that date back to 1886. The second wine, Carruades de Lafite, is named after the Carruades plateau, but the plateau is now regarded as such good terroir that it is always used for the grand vin. There is also a plot in St-Estephe called Blanquet, which Lafite is allowed to use for historical reasons. Overall, the 110-hectare vineyard is planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon/25% Merlot/ 3% Cabernet Franc/2% Petit Verdot.

Since 2018, Saskia de Rothschild has been chairwoman of the holding company Domaines Barons de Rothschild, with several other properties in the portfolio. Adjacent Pauillac Fourth Growth Duhart-Milon was in a dilapidated condition when they acquired it in the 1960s from the Casteja family, but it is a changed property now. They also own Sauternes property Rieussec and Pomerol L’Evangile, and have interests further afield in Languedoc (Aussierres), Argentina (Bodegas Caro), Chile (Los Vascos) and China (Long Dai). (NT 19/08/25)