Rothschilds and wine

The Rothschilds first entered the world of wine in 1853 when Baron Nathaniel (1812–70), grandson of Mayer Amschel and a member of the English branch of the family, bought Brane Mouton and renamed it Ch mouton rothschild. This was common practice among more important château owners. It was a buyer’s market in Bordeaux vineyards then devastated by oidium, or powdery mildew, and the Rothschild purchase was viewed more as a property transaction than as the acquisition of a distinguished vineyard. When the important 1855 classification placed Ch Mouton Rothschild top of the second growths, however, the Rothschilds were particularly exercised by what they regarded as its unfairly low placing.

Baron Philippe de Rothschild was to prove one of the most influential forces in the wine business of Bordeaux and beyond. Not only did he acquire two neighbouring Pauillac fifth growth châteaux—Mouton d’Armailhacq (named at various stages Mouton-Baron-Philippe, Mouton-Baronne-Philippe, and, since the late 1980s, d’Armailhac) in 1933 and Clerc Milon in 1970—he established the importance of château bottling, established mouton cadet as one of the world’s most successful wine brands and an important négociant business in the Médoc, astutely developed the concept (and value) of artists’ labels, established the finest collection of wine-related works of art in the world, and in 1979 initiated Opus One, the world’s first high profile joint venture with Robert mondavi of California. In 1996 a joint venture with Concha y Toro of chile was created to produce the ambitiously priced Cabernet blend Almaviva. Baron Philippe was succeeded at Mouton by his daughter Philippine (1933–2014). Under her leadership, Domaine de Baron’arques, a red limoux AOC, was bought with her two sons in 1998. At the same time, Baron Philippe de Rothschild S.A. diversified into varietal wines from the languedoc.

Just next door to Mouton, Ch lafite was bought by Baron James of the French family in 1868 in the face of local competition. He died a few months later but is said to have visited the property briefly in the spring of that year. His son Edmond (1845–1934) was to sow, and indeed provide, the seeds for the establishment of the israeli wine industry by making a vast donation in 1882. James’s great-grandson Élie (1917–2007) was the family member who eventually took charge of Lafite, subsequently Lafite-Rothschild, until 1974 when his nephew Eric (1940–) became the château’s head. In 1962, the fourth growth pauillac Ch Duhart-Milon was acquired. In 1984, the leading sauternes property Ch Rieussec was also purchased, L’Évangile in pomerol being added in 1990. Since then joint ventures have been established in Los Vascos in chile in 1988, Ch d’Aussières in Corbières, Quinta do Carmo in Portugal (sold to their partners in 2007), Caro with Catena in Argentina, and, since 2008, a new estate in china’s Shandong region. The Lafite Rothschilds were on the point of expanding their California interests but sold Chalone to an acquisitive diageo in 2004.

In 1973 Baron Edmond (1926–97), one of the family partners in Lafite but engaged in many other affairs, bought the semi-derelict Ch Clarke of listrac and in 1977–8 built a very large new cuvier and chai. In 1979, he added Ch Malmaison in the adjoining commune of moulis, which was also treated to major renovation, as well as acquiring two more non-classified châteaux in the Médoc. Since 1998, this branch of the Rothschild family have had a joint venture with Anton Rupert of South Africa, Rupert & Rothschild. In 2002, Baron Edmond’s son Baron Benjamin created a joint venture with Laurent Dassault in Mendoza, Argentina. In 2003, he bought Ch des Laurets, straddling Puisseguin- and Montagne-St-Émilion. In 2013, two new ventures were developed, one in Marlborough, New Zealand and a joint venture with vega sicilia in Rioja, Spain.

1. Littlewood, J., Milady Vine: The Autobiography of Philippe de Rothschild (London, 1984).