Chateau Lafite Rothschild Red Wine Chateau Lafite Rothschild

Chateau Lafite is located north of the village of Pauillac in the Medoc region of Bordeaux. It is famous for the production of top-quality dry red wine. The best among millions of wineries in the world. The Latin word "Lafite" means "stone" and later evolved into the local slang "Lafitte". In fact, this word refers to the round gravel hill where Lafite Village is located. The earliest historical records of our village date back to 1234. Although Lafite was already famous for its outstanding quality in the fourteenth century, it was the seventeenth century that truly took shape and became famous in Europe. In 1675, Lafite was purchased by J.D. Segur, a man of the hour in the wine industry. At this time, the Seeger family already owned two wineries, Chateau Latour and Chateau Mouton. In the seventeenth century, France, from the royal aristocrats to the common people, basically drank Burgundy wine. However, Bombardier, the mistress of French King Louis XV at that time, had a special liking for Lafite. Since then, Lafite has become the wine of the aristocrats of the Palace of Versailles in Paris. of wine in your glass. Since Lafite entered the British market in the early 18th century, it has been collected by many British wine connoisseurs. During 1732-1733, the first British Prime Minister Robert Walpole drank an average of 100ml wine every three months. Just buy a barrel of Lafite.

In 1868, banker Baron de Rothschild bought the chateau at a price of eight times the price-earnings ratio and became the new owner of Chateau Lafite. His family business continues to this day. The current owner, Baron Eric de Rothschild, took office in 1974. His keen innovation and painstaking management have enabled Chateau Lafite to completely escape the shadow of the ordinary in the 1960s and 1970s, and return to its peak state.

Lafite still holds the record as the most expensive wine in the world (per bottle). At the 1985 Christie's auction in London, a 1787 bottle of Lafite signed by then US President Thomas Jefferson was sold to Malcolm Forbes, owner of Forbes magazine, for a whopping ￡105,000.

At present, Chateau Lafite is controlled by the Rothschild Group, with a vineyard planting area of ??about 90 hectares and an average tree age of more than 40 years. The grapes at the manor are grown using very traditional methods. Chemicals and fertilizers are basically not used. The grapes are cultivated with careful manual care. The grapes are picked only when they are fully mature. During the harvest, skilled workers will strictly screen each bunch of grapes, and those that do not meet the requirements will not be picked. After the grapes are sent to the crushing room, they must be selected twice by highly skilled workers to ensure that every grape being pressed is of high quality.

In recent years, the Rothschild family, the owner of Lafite, has acquired a number of classified wineries in Bordeaux and also owns many vineyards in the United States and South America.

Main brand: Chateau Lafite

Second brand: Carruadesde Lafite

Each vintage of Lafite wine is aged 12-24 times in new oak barrels The specific time of aging depends on the climate and harvest of the year. Some recommended vintages, such as 1982, have deep color, rich aroma, extremely rich layers, and complex taste, mixed with black currants, pencil lead, minerals, tobacco and coffee. The aftertaste lasts for more than one minute and the aroma is long-lasting. Lingering and long-lasting.

Recommended years: 1982, 2000, 2005, etc.

Chateau Latour red wine Chateau Latour

Chateau Latour is located at the mouth of the Gironde River in Bordeaux. The winery was founded by the British in the 15th century. It was originally built to prevent pirate invasion, and was later developed into a vineyard in the 16th century.

From the 16th to the 19th century, Latour was managed by the famous local Segur family. At its peak, this family once owned several manors such as Lafite and Mouton Rouge. Therefore, in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification of Chateaus, Latour, Lafite, Mouton Rouge, etc. were all awarded the title of First Class Chateau. After the end of World War II, Latour left the Xigang family, changed owners several times, and successively entered the hands of several entrepreneurs. In 1993, French retail giant Printemps acquired the estate and has controlled it ever since.

"Latour" means "tower" in French. It is actually just a pigeon tower, not a winery. However, because it is located in the manor, it has become the landmark building of Chateau Latour. Chateau Latour had been appreciated by British nobles and royal families as early as the 18th century. At that time, the price of wine was several times more expensive than that of other famous Bordeaux wineries. In 1787, former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, who was obsessed with French wine, praised Chateau Latour. The honor won during the Bordeaux winery classification in 1855 further consolidated its status in the wine world.

Currently, Chateau Latour has 65 hectares of vineyard planting area, with an average tree age of 40 years. Among them, 47 hectares of vineyards are located in the center and are the main vineyards for producing genuine wine. All vintages are aged in new oak barrels for 18-22 months. Latour is extremely demanding on the wine production process. Usually only 60% of the grapes can be used to make the first wine. If the vintage is not good, it may be reduced to one quarter or even lower, and the remaining wine can only be used as the second wine. of raw materials.

Official brand: Chateau Latour

Secondary brand: LesForts de Latour

Original Latour generally takes at least 10 to 15 years to mature. The mature Chateau Latour has an extremely rich layered feel, and the wine is full and delicate. As a famous wine taster described it, Chateau Latour is like a deep and powerful bass, mellow but not exciting, beautiful and full of connotation. The second wine is still not light-bodied, with solid tannins, rich layers, and strong fruit aroma.

Chateau Margaux red wine

Chateau Margaux, located on the left bank of Bordeaux, was founded in 1590. According to historical records, the Lestonnac family was the first However, due to complicated inheritance relationships, the family gradually lost control of the manor and changed owners several times. In 1809, the Marquis de La Colonilla, a local nobleman, bought the manor and spent 15 years building the manor. Finally, he built the castle we see today, which is one of the most magnificent buildings in the Medoc region. In 1977, the Mentzelopoulos family, which runs a chain store, purchased the winery and invested a lot of manpower and financial resources, thus greatly improving the quality of the wine and winning a high reputation.

Chateau Margaux won the first level of classified winery in the Bordeaux wine classification in 1855. It also received this honor from famous chateaus such as Lafite, Rouge, and Latour. Chateau Margaux has continued to receive awards from many wine critics since 1590. As early as 1787, former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, who was obsessed with wine, rated Chateau Margaux as the top of the Bordeaux chateaus. When Chinese President Hu Jintao visited France and passed through Bordeaux in November 2001, the French President specially arranged for President Hu to visit Chateau Margaux and taste the 1982 Margaux.

The manor currently has 78 hectares of vineyard area, with an average tree age of 45 years. Chateau Margaux is a winery that adheres to tradition among many famous Bordeaux chateaux. The chateau not only insists on manual operation, but also still uses 100% oak barrels for fermentation and aging. And wineries as famous as Latour and Hongyan have already combined stainless steel fermentation.

Main wine: Ch?teau Margaux

Second label: Pavillon Rouge du Ch?teau Margaux

Each vintage of Margaux wine is aged for 20 years in new oak barrels. -24 months. The wine has a beautiful color, elegant smell, tight and delicate structure, and a long aftertaste. The second brand is usually called Pavilion Rouge. Although it is a second brand, it still has the rich and long flavor of the main wine.

Recommended years: 1996, 2000, 2005, etc.

Mouton Manor red wine Ch?teau Mouton Rothschild

Mouton Manor was bought by the wealthy banker Baron Nathaniel deRothschild in 1863 and renamed Ch?teau Mouton-Rothschild. Fifteen years later, his cousin also bought Chateau Lafite in the same village, so the Rothschild family already owned two of the five famous chateaux in Bordeaux. In the 1855 Bordeaux winery rating, Chateau Mouton Mouton did not win the first place in the Classified Chateau like Lafite. It was not until the re-evaluation in 1973 that it entered the ranks of First Growth.

"Mouton" means "sheep" in French, so the label theme of some of its wines is also "sheep". This is because the owner belongs to the Aries constellation, and "sheep" has become the patron saint of the winery. In the more than two hundred years of history of Mouton Manor, the truly glorious time began in 1922, because Baron Philippe Rothschild, who was only 21 years old at the time, persuaded My father officially became the manager of the winery. Baron-Philippe made a major contribution to the development of Bordeaux and even French wine throughout his life. He was the first person in Bordeaux to advocate the completion of winemaking and bottling in the winery. It was precisely because of his lobbying that Bordeaux escaped becoming The fate of petrochemical industrial parks.

In addition to their excellent wine quality and collection value, the products of Chateau Mouton are also world-famous for their personalized wine labels. In 1945, Baron-Philippe was the first to ask an artist to paint the labels of the winery's wines. Such as famous labels: the "V" label representing victory in World War II in 1945 and the portrait label of Baron "Nathaniel deRothschild" commemorating the 100th anniversary of the purchase of the winery in 1953. In 1959, the famous painter Picasso's "Bacchus" also became the object of people's collection. In fact, this year is not a big year, but it can often be sold at auctions at sky-high prices. This is the value of the use of labels. Since then, Chateau Mouton has paid more attention to the design content of the label, so every year it invites famous painters or art masters from all over the world to paint for the Mouton wine label of that year. Currently, Mouton Manor belongs to the Rothschild Group, with a vineyard planting area of ??approximately 82 hectares and an average age of grape plants of 45 years. In order to ensure the quality of his genuine wine, the owner only retains one bud on each grape vine to control grape yield and improve quality. Each year's first wine is aged in new oak barrels for 18-30 months.

Original brand: Chateau Mouton-Rothschild

Secondary brand: LePetit Mouton de MoutonRothschild

Mouton’s original brand has a clear-cut fruity aroma and a full-bodied aftertaste. It is unparalleled, and the flavors of raspberry, blackcurrant, smoke and oak that follow after the entrance are breathtaking. Some of the genuine recommended vintages such as 1959, 1982 and 1968 have received 100 points from Robert Parker.

Recommended years: 1959, 1982, 1986, 2000, etc.

Ch?teau Haut Brione (Red Wine) Ch?teau Haut Brione

Ch?teau Haut-Brion is located in the Graves production area on the left bank of the Garonne River in Bordeaux. It is located on the outskirts of Bordeaux, only 2 kilometers from the city center. The manor was already a successful grape plantation as early as the fourteenth century and was built as a real manor in 1550 by local nobleman Jean de Pontac. In fact, according to the traditional transliteration, Ch?teau Haut-Brion should be called Haut-Brion Manor, but the origin of "Beautiful Beauty" is because the first mistress of the manor was a beautiful and moving lady at the time, and she won many awards. Her husband loved her in every possible way, so her husband called the winery "Beauty", which means beautiful, romantic and elegant.

Since the 16th century, the village has changed owners many times, and most of the owners are extraordinary people with historical backgrounds. Among them were archbishops, senior government officials and admirals. These prominent owners have virtually enhanced the status of the village. The current owner is American Clarence Diron.

The village of Pessac (Pessac) where Hongyan Manor is located is the birthplace of the concept of "wine estate" in France. As early as the 14th century, Clement V had built "Ch?teau Pape-Clement" here. ". Therefore, this vineyard is also one of the first wines exported to the UK, far ahead of the Medoc region. In the 17th century, it became one of the favorite wines of King Charles II of England.

In the 1855 Bordeaux classification, Chateau Rouge not only successfully ranked first among the Classified Chateaus, but was also the only one from the Graves region among the 61 Classified Chateaus. In 1961, Hongyan Manor proposed breaking tradition for the first time and introducing a series of modern winemaking technologies such as stainless steel fermentation. This move was unthinkable under the circumstances at the time. Because at that time, all the classified chateaus adhered to traditional winemaking methods, only Hongyan Chateau advocated innovation. Today, most wineries in Bordeaux, France have long accepted and imitated it.

Hongyan Village currently has 43 hectares of grape plantations, with an average tree age of 40 years and an average annual output of about 20,000 boxes. In addition, there are 2.7 hectares of vineyards planted with white grape varieties Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, used to produce one of the few high-end white wines in Bordeaux, named Ch?teau Haut-Brion Blanc.

Main brand: Ch?teau Haut-Brion

Second label: Ch?teau Behans Haut-Brion; La Clarence de Haut-Brion

Hongyan genuine brand is aged in new oak barrels 24 months. The characteristics of its wine are the same as the origin of its name. When young, it looks like a girl in the age of cardamom, pure and lovely, elegant and fragrant. After aging, it has the beauty of a mature woman, warm and generous, and full of charm. It is worth noting that Hongyan’s second wine was once named: Ch?teau Behans Haut-Brion, but since 2007 it has been renamed: La Clarence de Haut-Brion to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Clarence Dillon’s family’s ownership of Chteau Haut Brion in 2010.

Cheval Blanc Red Wine

Although Cheval Blanc is located in the Saint-Emilion district, it is close to the Pomerol district, so the geography is very similar to it. The soil is mostly gravel, sand and clay; the underlying rock is a rock formation with extremely high iron content. There is only a small road between the two vineyards of Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau Cheval Blanc in the Pomerol region. Therefore, for a long time, Chateau Cheval Blanc has been regarded as the wine of Pomerol. The grapes mainly planted in Chateau Cheval Blanc are different from the Cabernet Sauvignon in other famous gardens. Sauvignon is known as the "poor relative of the country" because it is lighter, lighter in color, earlier ripening, less tannic, and more fragrant. The planting density of Cabernet Franc (66) and Merlot (33) is about six thousand plants per hectare. The aging period in new oak barrels is approximately eighteen to twenty-four months.

As for the wine that is not very ideal, it is used as the second army wine, that is, "little horse".

White Horse Manor[1]

The biggest advantage of White Horse Manor is that it is charming both young and old. When young, it will have a sweet and attractive flavor, and the wine is very powerful. weak. But after ten years, Baima Castle can exude a strong, multi-layered personality that is both soft and dense. The 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc was praised as "the most perfect work of this century" in the Bordeaux region.

To take full advantage of its unique soil, they plant a large proportion of the Cabernet Franc grape (57). This extremely elegant grape gives Chateau Cheval Blanc wines unparalleled aroma and taste. Strategically, its output is kept low. The strong tannins of Cabernet Franck combine well with the mellow fruit aroma of Merlot grape (41). During harvest time, the wine is soaked for an average of 3 weeks before being poured out. Grand Cru, a farm-grade title, also means that the wine must be aged in new oak barrels for 18 months, while the second wine, Petit Cheval, is aged in 50 new oak barrels. 12 months. Zhengtu wine is not filtered.

Chateau Cheval Blanc is located in the Saint-Emilion legal production area. Ranked first among the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classés, it is the first among the two Chateaus in Group A. It can also be said that the Saint-Emilion legal production area has become more beautiful because of the establishment of Cheval Blanc. Baima Village covers an area of ??38 hectares. The largest winery in Saint-Emilion was Chateau Figeac. The current grounds of White Horse Estate were also part of Fei Zhuo Estate. Later, due to Feizhuo Village selling land piece by piece, the independent Baima Village was established.

Chateau Ausone

In 1781, Cartner, the then owner of this garden, gave it a well-known name - Chateau Ausone. Decimus Magnus Ausonius (310-394) was a Roman professor and poet who was born here in the Roman era. Because he served as the "Prince Tutor" - the teacher of the Roman emperor when he was the prince, he had a prosperous official career and became an official in the local area. The Governor-General and the Elders of the Privy Council. He is famous for his love of wine and once owned wineries in Bordeaux and Germany. Of course, it is currently impossible to prove that Mr. Ozon planted grapes, drank wine and recited poetry on the current site of the Ausone Garden. However, thanks to the small area of ??the winery, the successive owners of the winery were quite successful, so in the 19th century it was ranked among the three or five best wineries in the region. By the early 20th century, it was undoubtedly the best winery in the region.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, the performance of Aosong Manor was mediocre. The grapes were randomly selected, and the proportion of new oak barrels used for aging was too low, making the wine weak and lacking in aroma. Is it time for Chateau Song to step down from its title of “No. 1 Chateau” in the region? The main reason is that the owner, general manager and winemaker are either sick or have reached retirement age, which inevitably makes the winery depressed. It was not until 1974 that the owner of the manor, Dubao Chalon, passed away. His widow, Helyett, no longer had the burden of taking care of the "sick man" and began to comprehensively reorganize the manor. The following year, she hired 20-year-old Pasal Delbeck, who had just finished his winemaking studies, to take charge of the winemaking work at the estate. Since DeBeck was a young winemaker with little experience, the bold decision to hire him caused discord between the two owners and turned them against each other. However, this situation did not affect the performance of Deback, who proved to be Haiya's "knowledge of people" in the future, and revitalized the park. Although Haiya is the aunt of Alain and Catherine, the two siblings who currently represent the Voltet family, and they live in two wings of the Oson Manor, they do not talk to each other and only communicate by registered letters. Over the past few years, in order to fight for the right to operate the winery, the two families have gone to court, with each side winning or losing. It was not until January 1996 that the court determined that the management rights were owned by the Futai brothers and sisters. At the same time, the court also ruled that the total value of the estate was approximately US$9.5 million.

After losing the lawsuit, 78-year-old Haiya did not want to have sex with her grandnephews, so she spread rumors of a sale.

Francois Pinault, who bought Chateau Latour in 1993, had long coveted Chateau d'Auzon and immediately offered $10.3 million to buy Haiya's shares, which was higher than the court price and higher than the price he paid for Chateau Latour that year. The average land price is more than double. At the same time, Pino also asked the Futai brothers and sisters to sell the other half of the company's shares at the same price. The Vault brothers and sisters thought about it and were still reluctant to leave Chateau Auxon. Moreover, according to French law, only one person can have the priority to acquire the same shares within one month. So the Futei brothers were determined to borrow money from various places to buy out Aunt Haiya's shares and become the sole owner of the winery. Mr. Pinault's attempt to acquire the winery came to nothing. Over the years, Aosong Winery has been headed by Aaron, and since 1995 it has hired the famous winemaker M. Rolland as a consultant.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Auxon Manor could not be compared with the five first-class estates on the Left Bank of Bordeaux, and the price difference was roughly 30 to 50 yuan. But by the 1980s, the prices of the two had become equal. Since the 1990s, the price of Chateau Auxon has exceeded that of Chateau Mouton. The winery's annual output is only 25,000 bottles, which is 1/10 of the above-mentioned famous wines.

Petrus Chateau Petrus

It takes 10-30 years of aging.

There is always such a kind of red wine in the world, which is rare, precious and mysterious. , noble, it is very difficult to even see its majestic appearance.

This is Petrus, the king of wines. Pomerol, located in the right bank production area of ??Bordeaux, is the most precious production area in Bordeaux, with a total area of ??less than 100,000 square meters. It exceeds 740 hectares, and the number of wineries in the area does not exceed 200. Although there are no famous five famous wineries in the Left Bank region, the reputation of Petrus's winery is enough to surpass the five famous wineries. Petrus is low-key. , it disdains the outside world, but stands at the top of the entire Bordeaux wine in its own way.

Petrus seems to be the paradise among the entire Bordeaux vineyards. It is fine, exquisite, and brews Every drop of the vineyard is like fairy wine. Petrus seems to be a vineyard held in the hands of God. Its climate and soil are unparalleled. The grape growers of Petrus are more like brewing wine for God. Every grape is taken care of. The planting area of ??Petrus is only 12 hectares, and only more than 5,000 plants are planted per hectare. It is the winery with the smallest planting density among the famous Bordeaux wineries. The management of the grapevines has reached even more stringent standards. At this level, only the best bunches of grapes are retained for each grape to ensure that the grapes have the best quality. Unlike other wineries, Petrus mainly uses Merlot as the main grape variety, reaching 90. Such pursuit The perfect management method makes Petrus’ Merlot grapes known as the best Merlot in the world.