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 was credited with the planting of the Lafite vineyard in the 1670s and in the early 1680s. In 1695, Jacques de Ségur’s heir, Alexandre, married the heiress of Chateau Latour, who gave birth to Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur. The wine histories of the fiefs of Lafite and Latour were thus joined at the outset.
Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) has made excellence in the vineyard and wine-making practices the basis of its growth. Chateau Lafite Rothschild was the start of the DBR (Lafite) Group. It was the first Chateau acquired by the Rothschild family in 1868 and inspires and guides the winegrowing practices at the various estates: the expertise and the tradition upheld for several generations by the Rothschild family are applied to all of the properties with the objective of producing high quality wines full of finesse and elegance in the “Lafite Spirit”. “The Lafite Spirit” is based on a rich past and a tradition rooted in the Bordeaux soil, on the transmission of the ancestral know-how of men and women and on the excellence and refinement of the wines that they help to produce. “The Lafite Spirit” is also the pioneering spirit which has led the Group to open up to the world, by setting up on new terroirs outside France to produce quality wines there. As from 1972, Baron Eric de Rothschild has given a new impetus to Chateau Lafite Rothschild, completing this quest for excellence, from the vineyard through to the cellars. He has also broadened the horizon of the estates through new acquisitions in France and abroad. Alongside Chateau Lafite Rothschild, the group expanded rapidly from 1962 onwards with the successive acquisitions of Chateau Duhart-Milon (Pauillac 4th Grand Cru Classé), Chateau Rieussec (Sauternes Premier Grand Cru Classé) and Chateau L’Evangile (Pomerol). It then moved beyond the Bordeaux region with: Viña Los Vascos (Chile, 1988), Domaine d’Aussières (Languedoc, 1999), Bodegas Caro (Argentina, 1999), and has been developing a vineyard in China in the Penglai region since 2008. From 1995, Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) has produced a range of Bordeaux appellation wines under the brands Légende and Saga. DBR (Lafite) also distributes Chateau Paradis Casseuil and Chateau Peyre-Lebade (Bordeaux).
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