Netjets US Autumn 2022

TASTING NOTES
One of Bordeaux’s leading vineyards is converting its
terroir to biodynamic farming —a change led by the
formidable Saskia de Rothschild. // By Guy Woodward
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WITHIN THE WINE world, Bordeaux is not a place where things
tend to happen quickly. Take the region’s hallowed 1855
classification, which ranks the top châteaux of the Médoc from
first to fifth growths. The ranking has seen just one change
in its 167-year history—the stately Mouton Rothschild being
promoted from a second to first growth after its owner, Baron
Philippe de Rothschild, successfully petitioned agriculture
minister and future president Jacques Chirac in 1973.
Other than that, such is the sanctity of their terroir that changes
of ownership, winemakers, and even the expansion and addition
of vineyards, have not threatened the status of this vinous elite. As
a result, Mouton’s close relation, Château Lafite Rothschild, which
belongs to another branch of the aristocratic family, has, since 1855,
retained its status as one of only four, latterly five, Premiers Grands
Crus Classés – and with it, its reputation as a bastion of Bordeaux,
and one of most vaunted, coveted (and expensive) wines in the world.
Lafite, too, is not given to radical change. Under the long-time
stewardship of the debonair if somewhat detached Baron Éric de
Rothschild—cousin to Baron Philippe—it continued on its serene
trajectory, Baron Éric’s only nod to fashion the velvet smoking
slippers he was fond of wearing to the grand black-tie dinners
that are commonplace in Bordeaux’s wine fraternity. Yet having
celebrated its 150th year in the ownership of the same family in
2018, the property has undergone something of a transformation.
Two things happened in 2018, in addition to the anniversary
celebrations. Firstly, Saskia de Rothschild (the sixth generation,
and neither the oldest child, nor male, and therefore destined
not to inherit her father’s title) took over the management of
the estate, and its various sister properties, as the first female
chairwoman of Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite).
“When the family decided it was time for Baron Éric to hand
over to his daughter, it was a big, big change,” says Jean-Sebastien
Philippe, international director of DBR Lafite. “We moved from a man
who was a legend in the wine world, who had been managing the
estate since 1974, to his young daughter, who was only born in 1987.
“It was a big move, and when Saskia came on board, she wanted
to make quite a lot of changes across everything we do. Not that what
we were doing was wrong, but it was time to embrace modernity.”
The second change—and the most significant immediate
impact she made—was to convert all the Lafite vineyards (and
those of its sister estates) to organic viticulture, a relatively
radical move in Bordeaux. And having gone so far, why not go
further? Over the last four years, the estate has been following—
“in a scientific, empirical way,” says Philippe—biodynamic
viticulture. One third of the property is now biodynamic, after a
long-term study in collaboration with the University of Bordeaux,
to gauge the effect of biodynamic farming on the vineyards.
As Philippe acknowledges, it was “a very strong statement” for a
first growth to commit itself to a type of vineyard husbandry that is
more common in the more rustic wine regions of Burgundy, the Loire
or even that hipster’s favourite the Jura. A handful of Bordeaux’s
classified estates—notably Châteaux Palmer and Pontet-Canet—
have followed the same path, but very few of the scale and status of
Lafite (whose vineyard holdings total more than 270 acres, compared
FIRST AMONG EQUALS
Château Lafite Rothschild, home of
one of the Premiers Grands Crus
Classés of Bordeaux.
FRANÇOIS POINCET
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