Château Lafite Rothschild
Some History

Origins and the Ségur family

While the first known reference to Lafite dates to 1234 with a certain Gombaud de Lafite, abbot of the Vertheuil Monastery north of Pauillac, Lafite’s mention as a medieval fief dates to the 14th century. The name Lafite comes from the Gascon language term “la hite”, which means “hillock”.

There were probably already vineyards on the property at the time when the Ségur family organised the vineyard in the 17th century, and Lafite began to earn its reputation as a great winemaking estate.

Jacques de Ségur is credited with the planting of the Lafite vineyard in the 1670’s and in the early 1680’s. In 1695, Jacques de Ségur’s heir, Alexandre, married the heiress of Château Latour, and they gave birth to Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur. The fiefs of Lafite and Latour were thus unified at the beginning of their estate legacy.

The “new French clarets”

From the early 18th century, Lafite found its market in London. It was discussed in the very official London Gazette of 1707 as being “sold at public auctions in the City of London. After being offloaded from foreign merchant ships seized by British corsairs as well as by the vessels of the Royal Navy” (the era was in the grips over the Spanish war of succession).

The London Gazette described the Lafite wine and its counterparts as “New French clarets”. Between 1732-1733, Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister, purchased a barrel of Lafite every three months. It was only much later that red Bordeaux wines were recognized on the continent.

The King’s Wine and the Wine Prince

Beginning in 1716, Marquis Nicolas Alexandre de Ségur would consolidate Lafite’s initial successes. He improved the winemaking techniques and above all enhanced the prestige of fine wines in foreign markets and the Versailles court. He became known as “The Wine Prince”, and Lafite’s wine became “The King’s Wine”, with the support of an able ambassador, the Maréchal de Richelieu.

Difficult inheritances

The Marquis did not have any sons, and his property was divided between his four daughters. Lafite was thus separated from Latour, despite its remaining in the family and being governed by the same steward until 1785.

Lafite was inherited by Count Nicolas Marie Alexandre de Ségur, the son of the Marquis’ oldest daughter, who had married a cousin, Alexandre de Ségur, who was provost of Paris. In 1785, the anonymous author of a memoir on the “Lafite Lordship” spoke of the “finest vineyard in the Universe”.

Things did not turn out so well for the Count de Ségur, though. With outstanding debts, he was forced to sell Château Lafite in 1784. As a relative of the seller, Nicolas Pierre de Pichard, the first president of the Bordeaux Parliament, used the “kinship rights” legislation to purchase the estate.

Thomas Jefferson

On the eve of the French revolution, Lafite was at the height of its winemaking legacy, as witnessed by the writings of Thomas Jefferson, future President of the United States.

While serving as ambassador for the young United States Republic to the Versailles Court, this multifaceted individual - farmer, businessman, politician, lawyer, architect, diplomat and founder of the University of Virginia - acquired a passion for winemaking and thought about developing it in his own country.

He stayed in Bordeaux in May 1787, and five days would be time enough for him to visit the major Chartrons merchants and gather a mass of information that he would report in his travel memoirs.

He detailed the hierarchy of the growths, highlighting those that would go on to be the four leading wines. Château Lafite was among them. Jefferson remained a steadfast customer of Bordeaux wines until the end of his days.

Classification of 1855

In 1815, Mr. Lawton published an initial classification of Médoc wines in his brokerage house log. It was apparently an accurate assessment, as it was very similar to the 1855 classification.

Lafite was already at the top of the list: “I ranked Lafite as the most elegant and delicate, with the finest fruit of the three (leading wines).” He added that “its wines are the most superb in all of Médoc.”

The 1834 vintage was particularly successful, as was 1841, and especially 1846. The vintage rankings of the Universal Paris Exposition in 1855 officially gave Lafite the rating as “Leader among fine wines”. This ranking would be the benchmark for a new and astonishing era of success for Médoc vineyards. The period’s finest vintages include 1847, 1848, 1858, 1864, 1869, 1870 and 1876

Baron James de Rothschild

On 8 August 1868, Baron James de Rothschild purchased Château Lafite, which had been placed under public sale through the inheritance of Ignace-Joseph Vanlerberghe.

Baron James, who was head of the French branch of the Rothschild family, passed away just 3 months after purchasing Lafite. The estate then became the joint property of his three sons: Alphonse, Gustave and Edmond. The estate then boasted 74 hectares of vineyards.

As a sign welcoming the new owner, Lafite vintage 1868 goes down as a record in many ways. It was the highest-priced wine of its vintage year (6,250 of that period’s francs, or 4,700 of today’s euros the ‘tonneau’ of 900 liters).

This early wine’s high price would remain a record for the entire century, before being far surpassed at the end of the 20th century. Fortunately for Barons Alphonse, Gustave, and Edmond de Rothschild, the “golden age” of Médoc would go on for another fifteen years after the purchase of Lafite.