Introduction of the first-class winery in Bordeaux, France

Lafite winery (full name: Lafite Rothschild winery, French: Chateau Lafite Rothschild) is located in Medoc, France, covering an area of 65,438+078 hectares (including 65,438+003 hectares of vineyards). Winery is located in pauillac, named pauillac Winery. Lée, AOC). Its name Lafite is named after "la hite", which is a medieval southern French dialect, meaning mountain.

Winery history:

Chateau Lafite, together with neighboring Mu Tong Chateau (full name: Mouton Rothschild Chateau, French name: Mouton Rothschild Chateau), is one of the richest and most powerful Rothschild family businesses in the world. The Rothschild family is a well-known financial family in Europe and even in the world. It originated from 19 century, and was founded by Mayer Amschel Bauer. He and his five sons, namely "Roche Five Tigers", have successively opened banks in famous European cities such as Frankfurt, London, Paris, Vienna and Naples. Established the largest financial kingdom in the world at that time. In their heyday, their sexual power made the princes and nobles in Europe candidly admit defeat. Today, the world's major gold market is also controlled by them.

Lafite winery was owned by Gombaud de Lafite on 1234. /kloc-The main house built in the 0/7th century and16th century was sold to the Ségur family. Although grapes are all over the manor, Jacques de Seger decided to plant a major vineyard near 1680. In the early18th century, Nicolas-Alexandre (Marquis Ségur) improved his wine-making technology and introduced his wine to the upper class in Europe. Thanks to the support of Bishop Li Sailiu, he and Lafite Winery were called "Prince of Wine" and "King of Wine" respectively.

It was not until the end of18th century that the status of Lafite winery was established. American President Thomas Jefferson visited Lafite Winery and became his lifelong customer. With the arrival of the horror politics of the French Revolution, on June 30th, 794,1Ségur family ended its ownership, because Lafite winery was turned into public property, and Lafite winery was acquired by Dutch consortium on June 30th, 797.

/kloc-In the first half of the 9th century, Lafite winery was controlled by the Vanlerberghe family, and its quality was further improved, resulting in the great years of 1795, 1798 and 18 18.

1On August 8th, 868, Baron James Mayer Rothschild bought Lafayette winery for 4.4 million francs and renamed it Lafite Rothschild winery (CH &:a CIRC；; Chateau Lafite. However, Baron James died three months after he bought the chateau, so the chateau was inherited by his three sons, alfons, Gustav and Edmund. Because of the relationship between grape pests and two world wars, the 20th century is like a cycle of success and disaster. During the Second World War, Lafite Winery was occupied by the Germans, and its wine cellar was also severely looted. Named after his uncle Eric Rothschild. Lie de Rothschild has been in charge of the winery since 1974.

Winery features:

Compared with the opening and commerce of Rothschild, Mouton (Rothschild Winery, Mouton), the low-key and closed Lafite Castle is like an isolated village with a mysterious atmosphere; Although the owner has invested in wineries in other places and tourists from all over the world often come to visit, Lafite Castle is not only an ancient bourgeois industry, but also an ancient feudal empire.

A serious and elegant aristocratic image

The wine in Lafite Castle is also in this style: very elegant, noble, even with a little tenderness, it looks serious and cautious, without much emotion, and always keeps a little distance; It's like holding your head high, it's hard to get close, and you need to wait until the wine is ripe to feel her wonderful. Unlike Akebia's ripe fruit and incense, Lafite's signature is pencil lead, ore and cedar.

Quanta 100 hectare vineyards are mainly located on terraces in the north of the village, separated from the village of St. Estive by a small valley, and even Raffi's 3 hectare vineyards are located in the village of St. Estive. The gravel layer here is deep and the particles are quite coarse, which is undoubtedly the best section in Medoc. In addition, there are also large vineyards in Karl Addis, west of Rothschild Winery in Mouton.

Grapes currently planted include 7 1% cabernet sauvignon, 20% merlot, 7% cabernet franc and 2% petit Vito. Although the proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon planted by Lafite is slightly lower than that of top wineries in Medoc, the proportion actually added is quite high. Merlot grapes rarely exceed 10%, and even 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is used in 1994.

Simple traditional brewing method

At present, Lafite winery still uses wooden wine cans to make wine, which is usually fermented for one week and soaked for two weeks. The brewing method is quite simple, and it is a traditional Bordeaux brewing method. The brewed wine is put into brand-new oak barrels and cultivated in a circular underground cellar designed by Ricardo Bofil for one and a half to two years. Specially selected wine is the main method used by Lafite winery to improve its quality after entering the 1990s. No matter the year is good or bad, only one third of the wines are selected as authentic Lafite every year, and the rest are made into "Kalv Ades". Lafite began to produce the second military wine from 1874, and it is one of the earliest wineries in Bordeaux to introduce the second military wine.

In pauillac village, there are many wineries that can brew stronger wine than Lafite Rothschild, but if you want to say the sense of balance and the rigor of structure, it is Lafite. Especially the silky tannin texture of Lafite not only shows the meticulous style of wine, but also builds a solid cornerstone of wine; Although the taste is not particularly astringent, the durability potential is not lost to Latour Castle, another top winery. Geographical location:

Chateau Latour is located in Medoc, covering an area of 65 hectares. The winery is located in pauillac and named after its place of origin (i.e. pauillac producing area; Ocirclée, AOC). Latour Winery has an annual output of 40,000 cases of wine. The grapes it uses include 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot, and the remaining 5% are Cabernet Franc and Little Vito. Latour Brewery brews three main kinds of red wine, except the world-famous big wine; In addition to teau Latour, acirc also started producing Les Forts de Latour and its sub-brand Pauillac from 1966 and 1990 respectively.

Winery history:

Latour Castle is located at the mouth of the Gironde River in Bordeaux. This castle was built by the British in the15th century, originally to prevent pirates, and later became a battleground for military strategists in the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France. Latour Castle was developed into a vineyard in16th century. "latour Manor" was bought by the private secretary of French Louis XIV in 1670, and the garden was passed on to the de Krausser family in 1677 due to marriage. It was not until 1695 that Marie T. De Claussel married the Duke Alexandre De Segur, the heir of Lafite Manor at that time, that the Sugar family took latour Manor as a dowry, so latour became the Segur family's manor. But with the decline of Siegel family, latour Manor and Lafite Manor were inherited by the eldest daughter and her son, and later her son gave latour Manor to three wives and sisters. At this time, Lafite Manor and latour Manor were officially separated. During the French Revolution, Count cabannes of Siegel family still owned a quarter of the property rights of latour Manor, but because the count was exiled overseas, the revolutionary government bought this quarter of the property rights and changed hands several times, which was acquired by Beaumont family. In order to prevent the manor from being carved up, Wang Bao's family set up a legal person according to law, so that Latour Manor would not be carved up because of inheritance problems. In this way, "Latour Manor" was owned by Tommy Tam, Flair and Beaumont. 1963, the Wang Bao family sold 79% of the shares of latour to Pearson &; Harvey of Bristol. Twenty-six years later, 1989, "latour Manor" became the owner of Havice Group, and Li Chang Alliance Group repurchased latour shares held by British Pearson Group. 1993, Francois Pinault, the owner of Paris Spring Department Store, a giant French department store, bought the ownership of latour Manor, and the current owner of latour Manor is this French Mr. Pi Nuo.

Winery features:

Firm tannins

Latour is the most typical representative of all vineyards in Medoc. Located on the vast gironde River. The widest triangular river in Haikou, Europe, is blown by tides and river winds every day, which creates air flow and provides the best adjustment function for vineyards on the shore. The gentle slope slightly facing east is also beneficial to drainage and sunshine. But the most eye-catching thing is the deep gravel where the vineyard is located. These gravels accumulated at the end of the 4th century are very large, and there is almost no soil, only occasionally mixed with river sand, which has the advantages of barren, heat preservation, good reflection and drainage. Beneath the gravel layer is the clay deposited in the third century, which is dense and impermeable and retains water for underground vines. This is the vineyard in latour, which allows Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon to grow grapes with extra tannins under difficult conditions, and make the most magnificent red wine in Bordeaux.

Reorganization and innovation

As Bordeaux, or one of the top wineries in the world, at the turn of the century, Latour Winery, which has been gravel for more than 300 years, is about to start its restructuring plan for more than 20 years. Frederic Ardouin, the technical director in charge of grape planting and brewing, is the soul of this project. From 1999, the future of latour is in the hands of this young man who just turned 32.

The new wine cellar, which has started construction, was completed in 200 1, and the grapes directly entered the wine cellar to reduce the damage of the water pump to the grapes. The size of the wine can was changed from the original capacity of 20,000 liters to nine sizes of 18000 liters to 1000 liters, which can make wine more accurately. The oak barrel culture wine cellar has also been completely transformed, divided into upper and lower floors, which not only fully controls the temperature, but also minimizes the use of pumps. Compared with the transformation of wine cellar, the transformation of vineyard takes longer. Latour has the best vineyards in Medoc, but Yaduan thinks it is not enough. He wants to make the planting of vineyards more reasonable.

Latour winery can be regarded as the most admirable winery in Medoc, with solid and hard bones, as stubborn as Tietannin; Like a beast-no one can tame it except time. Even though there have been countless owners, latour has always been like latour in good years and bad years. This is a speechless winery, everything is in the wine. Geographical location:

Margaux Winery is located in Medoc, covering an area of 262 hectares. The winery is located in Margaux City and named after its place of origin (Margaux producing area; Lée, AOC). The average age of vines in Margaux Winery is 35 years. As a high-class winery in Medoc, Margaux winery grows 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by 20% Merlot, and the rest are Cabernet Franc and Little Vito. Every year, there are about 30,000 cases of Premier Cru and Pavillon Rouge (commonly known as the Second Military Wine, the brewing method is exactly the same except for younger grapes), and a very small number of planters Livzon brew Pavillon Blanc's wine into Bordeaux AOC-class wine.

Winery history:

Margaux Winery existed in the12nd century, but it was not until the16th century that its wines occupied a place with the arrival of the Leistnak family. Pierre de Leistnak replanted some farmland with vines in 1570. In the18th century, Margaux Manor included 265 hectares of gardens and 78 hectares of land that had been used as vineyards.

/kloc-Like most wineries in Medoc, Margaux experienced a very bleak period in the 8th century. However, due to the management of Peron, great changes have taken place in Margaux Winery. Bellon innovated and reformed many winemaking methods, such as picking grapes in the morning to avoid being covered by dew and confirming the importance of soil quality. In the19th century, Margaux Winery has become a well-known winery. American President Thomas Jefferson ranked it first in the personal category. Napoleon's classification in 1855 also confirmed this point.

In the1970s, after a series of problems with low-quality wines, the owner of the winery was forced to sell them in the 1950s. The successful buyer who took over later was the French grocery consortium led by the Greek André Mentzelopoulos. He turned it into a successful investment in the wine industry. When he died in the 1980s in 19, Margaux returned to the top wineries. /kloc-In the early 1990s of 0/9, part of the shares of Margaux Winery were negotiated and exchanged to the Agnelli family in Italy, but the management right was still in the hands of Colleen, the daughter of Andrea Menzeropoulos. Until 2003, she bought back her shares and became the sole shareholder of Margaux Winery.

Winery features:

A temple built on the tongue

As a first-class winery, Margaux Winery has almost become the focus of the whole village, especially the building itself of the castle, which just embodies the spirit of Medoc red wine:1Neoclassical building in the early 9th century, four towering Ai Ou-style columns, simple and heavy column roof and triangular lintel, 24 stone steps and two symmetrical sphinxes, which construct the front of the castle in a very low proportion. Whenever people taste the top Medoc red wine, it will remind you of Margaux Castle designed by Louis Compaq-the Tatar in the mouth is so coordinated and balanced according to the classical proportion, just like building the Parthenon of the Acropolis on the tip of the tongue.

A dignified and elegant female model

Many people describe Margot Castle red wine as having the most feminine taste in Medoc, often filled with charming floral fragrance and silky and delicate tannins, but this does not mean Margot Castle is a soft and light red wine. In fact, the most rare thing about Margaux is that these seemingly opposite styles, such as elegance and strength, meticulousness and richness, are often combined in a very clever way and are very attractive. Margo is full of Medoc's elegance-symmetrical and cultured, like a short-sleeved lady who doesn't show too much emotion, without wildness and full of aristocratic spirit. Geographical location:

Obiang Winery (French: Chateau Haut -Brion also translated as Obiang and Beauty) is the oldest winery in Bordeaux. Founded in 1525, it is owned by the French noble Pontak family. Obiang is the first winery to use its own winery name instead of selling it in the form of loose wine. In Bordeaux, they are the first wines to have their own "brand". It is located in Lyon, Paysac, on the left bank of the Gironde River in Bordeaux. The soil here is full of gravel and pebbles, which has excellent drainage performance. The winery grows three kinds of red grapes, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 65,438+00% Cabernet Franc, and two kinds of white grapes, 63% Semillon and 37% Sauvignon Blanc.

Winery history:

Since its birth, Obiang Winery has been accompanied by a romantic and beautiful story. 1525, Mayor Libourne married his daughter to a rich nobleman and gave her Obiang Winery as a dowry. It didn't take long for the winery to build the Obiang Castle that we see today. Times have changed. After dealing with the Pontak and Formel families, the winery was transferred to American financier ClarenceDillon on 1935. His granddaughter JoanDillon married the Prince of Luxembourg, so the winery became a dowry and went with her daughter. Although she remarried later, she and her ex-husband's son Robert inherited the status of a prince and became the head of the winery. This big castle stands gracefully and quietly among the green wineries in Bordeaux. In Jean-Philippe's words, countless ghosts in the castle silently bless the winery.

Obiang is the first top winery in Bordeaux. /kloc-In the 7th century, Obiang was also the first person to start brewing Bordeaux red wine with rich taste and long shelf life. Prior to this, Bordeaux wines on business trips were all reddish wines such as roses, which were rarely stored for more than 65,438+0 years. 1666, the owner of Obiang Winery opened a pub "Pontacq" in London, and successfully introduced a new flavor of Obiang to the upper class in London. "New Bordeaux" became a trend, and then Margaux, Latour, Lafite and other wineries followed suit. Before19th century, Obiang was the most famous winery in Bordeaux for more than a century.

Winery features:

Both red wine and white wine are produced.

At present, Obiang Winery has 46 hectares of vineyards, which are located around the castle and surrounded by walls. Outside the city wall, it is already the urban area of Paysac, a satellite city in Bordeaux. The vineyard is surrounded by two gentle hills named Baynes and Duzes, separated by a road from Bordeaux to Paysac. They are vineyards with the deepest gravel layer in all Paysac-Leorion producing areas. Obiang, like most Graf wineries, produces red wine and white wine, but most of them grow red grapes, with only 2.7 hectares of white grapes.

The most precocious first-class winery

Obiang is often the earliest mature vineyard in Bordeaux. Because it is located in the city center, the temperature is relatively high, and grapes ripen faster than rural vineyards, so they are often mined before the legal harvest time. In addition to precocity, Obiang's red wine is often more mellow and delicious than the first-class wineries in Medoc, due to the particularly high Merlot grape content. Very rich wine often has ripe fruity and smoky flavor, firm tannins, but at the same time there are many plump and sweet fruity aromas. Usually, it is the fastest mature and the earliest to taste among the five first-class wineries. Perhaps not as elegant as other first-class wineries, but it has the most delicious guarantee. Geographical location:

Mouton Rothschild Winery (full name: Mouton Rothschild Winery, French: Mouton Rothschild Winery) is located in pauillac, Medoc, France. Since 1853, as one of the industries of the Rothschild family, this winery is world-renowned for its excellent wine quality and the following two points:

1. Since 1945, different patterns have been used as wine labels every year, and they are often designed by famous artists (such as Picasso, Mark Chagall, etc. ).

2. The only winery upgraded to the number one official Bordeaux wine after 1855. Winery ranked second in 1855 (Deuxième Grand Cru). Then I was promoted to the first class in 1973.

Winery history:

Mu Tong Winery, formerly known as "Bran-Akebia Winery", was renamed "Mouton Rothschild Winery" by Nathaniel de Rothschild in 1853, and it was also the first manor to start bottling entirely by the winery itself.

1855 The classification of French Bordeaux wines is aimed at the wine market, but the only one with high price is Mu Tong Winery, which was rejected by the first-class wineries. At that time, the winery owner called it terrible inequality, because its vineyard was recently bought by the British and no longer held by the French. The Baron Tanjo was not convinced, and wrote the sentence "I can't be a first class, I don't want to be a second class, I am me, Mouton", which was later circulated for a hundred years. The owner of Mouton never gave up this point, insisted on the price of the first-class winery, and strived to upgrade Mu Tong winery from the second-class winery to the first-class winery. This was an almost impossible task at that time, because in addition to the complicated procedures of the French authorities, the conditions for upgrading the winery had to be unanimously recognized by 53 winery owners in the 1855 classification. However, with the unremitting efforts of the owner of Mutong winery, almost all the owners agreed, and the only opponent was his cousin, then the owner of Lafite winery. But it was finally recognized by Lafite with 1973, and then Minister of Agriculture Chirac confirmed that it was upgraded to a first-class winery. At that time, Baron Philip, who was in charge of Mouton, changed his grandfather's words to "level one, I am; Level 2, I used to be; Mouton has never changed ",which is a well-known story.

Among the five first-class wineries, only Mouton is open to tourists all the year round, so that visitors can know every detail from planting grapes to bottling wine and taste a series of red, white and spirits. Stepping into a characteristic building in person is like visiting a noble family in the palace. If you are familiar with Maotong wine, you will feel like visiting an old friend.

Winery features:

Bogeyue Yi Sheng International Winery

Mouton ranks first among the second-class wineries in the classification of 1855. After years of efforts by Baron Philippe, it is proved that Mouton is indeed as expensive as Lafite, and it was successfully upgraded to a first-class winery in 1973. Mouton and Rafi are actually on the gravel terrace in the north of pauillac village. The conditions in these two wineries are very similar. Mouton is in the south with shallow gravel layer, but it is already one of the best vineyards in Medoc. At present, there are 75 hectares of vineyards, 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 65,438+00% Cabernet Franc, 65,438+065,438+0% Merlot and 2% Little Vito.

Commercialization trend

Compared with nearby La Phoebe, Mouton seems a little ostentatious and commercialized in business, and the style of wine tends to this way. Compared with Akebia Akebia, the wine produced by Lafite, another branch of Rothschild family, seems a bit serious and closed when it is young, while the general rules of Akebia are relatively rare, direct, or with some enthusiasm, and often appear rich and mellow in taste, with more ripe fruit and smoky aroma.

But in any case, Mouton has a tall and burly skeleton of pauillac Village red wine, with a fleshy texture, and a lot of tannins are often well balanced. Mouton's style may not be so admirable, but its profound and solid taste and varied and rich wine fragrance are full of charming charm.

Successful wine labeling strategy

Mouton's most famous initiative is to combine wine labels with artworks. Baron Philippe de Rothschild came up with this idea. Every year, wine labels are designed by a famous artist at that time. 1946, these wine labels designed by great painters and sculptors in the world became a permanent and unique trend in Mu Tong wineries, with the only exception that the bottle in 2000 was directly carved and gilded on the bottle.

Starting from 1945, except 1953 and 1977, every year's wine labels are printed with works by different artists. For example, Jean Kokdo of 1947, Dali of 1958, henry moore of 1964, Xia Karl of 1970, Kandinsky of 197 1, and/kloc-

To celebrate the 0/00th anniversary of owning Akebia Winery 1953, the label of1953 uses the portrait of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild. In addition, in 1977, Queen Elizabeth II and her mother, Queen Bao Si-Lyon, visited Akebia Winery, and this visit was also designed as a souvenir on the label.

There are two special exceptions in history "using two labels on wine in the same year". The first time was in 1978, and the Montreal artist Jean-Paul Riopelle put forward two labels. Baron Philippe de Rothschild divided the wine into two parts with two labels, because they were both very happy.

Another time, in 1993, Balthus, a Polish-born French painter, drew a sexy naked woman on the label, so he was banned from listing by BATFE. At that time, it was suggested that the winery owner change the label, but Baroness Philip (daughter of Baroness Philip), the winery owner at that time, insisted on not changing it. Therefore, the vintage wine listed in the United States in that year was a different version from other markets, and its label replaced the position of the original naked woman with blank, but this actually caused collectors to compete to buy two different versions, which made the price of 1993 rise a lot. This feature of changing the bid leads to the wine in Mu Tong Winery being more expensive and more collectible than the other four first-class wineries that don't change the bid every year.

Sheep and raised high slopes

Mouton translated into Chinese as "sheep", but the origin of Mouton's name has nothing to do with sheep. Actually comes from the word "Mott". Because Fort Mouton is located on a raised gravel platform, it has such a name. Even so, there are two sheep on the left and right sides of Mouton's logo, and many painters often focus on sheep, entitled Mouton Design Wine Label. According to the winery, it is a coincidence that this sheep was designed as the symbol of the winery, because it is the lucky sheep of Baron Philip.