The most expensive standard bottled wine - 1787 Lafite

1787 Chateau Lafite wine. Sold at Christie's Auction House in London in 1985 for 160,000 U.S. dollar. Now in the Forbes Collection. The bottle is etched with President Jefferson's initials.

Lafite is currently the record holder for the most expensive bottle of wine in the world. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was not only a president, he was also the most famous wine critic of the 18th century. Equivalent to today's Robert Parker. At the Christie's auction in London in 1985, a bottle of Lafite signed by Thomas Jefferson in 1787 was bought by Malcolm Forbes, the owner of Forbes magazine, for a high price of 105,000 pounds. Set and holds the record for the most expensive bottle of wine in the world.

Wine lovers all know that Bordeaux rated the region’s famous chateaux in 1855. At that time, 61 of the best chateaus were selected from the numerous chateaus and were called Grand Cru Classe (Chinese can be called classified chateaus). Among the 61, it is divided into 5 levels. There are four in the first level, namely Chateau Lafite, Chateau Latour, Chteau Margaux and Chateau Haut Brion. Among the four, Lafite ranks first.

Lafite’s quality and personality are unparalleled. To have the world's top quality, of course the first is Lafite 50ML). This output ranks first among all the world's top wineries. The soil of the manor and the local micro climate (Micro Climate) are unique. The total area of ??Lafite Manor is 90 hectares, with 8,500 grapevines planted per hectare. Among them, Cabernet Ssuvignon accounts for about 70%, Merlot accounts for about 20%, and the rest is Cabernet Franc. The average tree age is more than forty years. The annual output is about 30,000 boxes of wine (12 bottles of 750ML per box). This output ranks first among all the world's top wineries. Compared with this output and the price it can maintain, the achievements of Lafite Village are really unmatched.

Chateau Lafite’s grape cultivation adopts a very traditional method, which basically does not use chemicals and fertilizers. It uses careful manual care to allow the grapes to be fully mature before picking. During the picking process, skilled workers will pick and screen the grapes from the trees, and those who are not good will not be picked. After the grapes are picked and sent to be pressed, they will be screened twice by more advanced technical workers to ensure that every grape being pressed meets high quality requirements. Every 2 to 3 vines in Lafite can produce a bottle of 750ML wine. In order to protect these precious vines, Chateau Lafite generally does not allow others to visit without a special agreement from the head office.

In addition, Chateau Lafite is also famous for being willing to spend a lot of money to hire the top wine masters.

The personality of Lafite wine is gentle and delicate, relatively introverted, unlike the strong personality of Latour and Wudang Wang, two famous wineries produced in Puyile Village.

Lafite has outstanding floral and fruity aromas, and is mellow and smooth, so many wine lovers call Lafite the "Queen" of the grape kingdom.

Chateau Lafite is a top Bordeaux estate and the most famous winery in the world. The first impression of Chateau Lafite is that it is a quiet and orderly first-class garden. Villa Lafite is a delightful 17th-century manor building, with the intimate scale of the private living room and bedrooms creating an atmosphere of country life. But under the calm surface, a revolution has been quietly going on for 25 years.

Among the wine kings from all over the world and from various sects, the most famous wine king should be Chateau Lafite in Boyle Village, Bordeaux, France.

Why?

First, Chateau Lafite was founded in 1354 by a nobleman named Lafite. It was already quite famous in the 14th century. In 1675, she was purchased by J.D. Segur, the world's number one wine industry figure at that time. Xigang was a powerful figure in the wine industry at that time. He also owned the top historical chateaus Chateau Latour, Chateau Mouton and Chateau Caton-Segur. King Louis XIV of France once said that the Chigon family may be the richest family in France.

In the seventeenth century, France was basically dominated by Burgundy wine. But Bombardier, the mistress of French King Louis XV, who was a famous "courtesan" in the upper class at that time, was the favorite of the nobles. After the death of the third generation head of the Xigang family in 1755, the property rights of Lafite entered a relatively chaotic historical period. But the quality of Lafite wine still does not disappoint. By 1868, Sir James Rothschild (Baron James Rothschild) could only win the bid at a public auction for a sky-high price of 4.4 million francs. The family prides itself on its second place.

When Baron Eric de Rothschild took over the manor in 1974, due to the continuous mediocre times at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, its reputation plummeted. Baron Eric consulted Bordeaux winemaking expert Professor Emile Peynaud. In 1975, he organized a new brewing team headed by Jean Crete (formerly of Leoville-Las-Cases). In 1983, Gilbert Rokvam succeeded Crete and further improved the winemaking process, such as shortening the barrel time of poor-aged grapes. This measure is very important to improve the fresh fruit of the wine, and the fresh fruit That's been Lafitte's longstanding problem.

In 1987, the manor built a wine pavilion with an arc-shaped design, which is very eye-catching.

Twelve months later, a winery equipped with constant-temperature stainless steel barrels was built. The family has owned Chateau Lafite to this day, and has been able to maintain the quality of Chateau Lafite and the remainder of the world's top wines to this day. Since the arrival of Eric Rothschild, Lafitte's wines have regained their former elegance and charm, with deeper colors and richer and more fragrant aromas.

1975 was the first good year after 1959.

The wines of 1982 and 1983 are durable super wines that still need to be stored for a few years. This also corrects people's traditional concept of Lafitte wine being delicate.

The 1990 wines have meaty qualities and they all have a very good future.

Since 1985, due to the increasingly strict selection of top grapes (Grand Vin), a large number of them have been converted into second wines, such as Carruades de Lafite, and their quality has also improved significantly