Unique Anniversary Label On 2018 Chateau Lafite Rothschild Provides An Obvious Investment Opportunity

Anniversary label from Chateau Lafite Rothschild

The 2018 vintage from Chateau Lafite Rothschild marks the castle's 150th anniversary of the Rothschild family. Rumor has it that the label this year will have a special design to celebrate the anniversary. A leak meant that we at RareWine Invest got hold of the story extra early, so we could offer the wine to our investors at an early stage. When wines are equipped with the anniversary label, they tend to become extra expensive.

Read more about Chateau Lafite Rotchschild and exactly why this vintage was particularly interesting for investors to be offered for investment in the article below.

The Family Behind Chateau Lafite Rothschild

The Rothschild family is an old banking family that has left its mark on history around Europe for centuries. When Baron James de Rothschild bought Chateau Lafite in August 1868, it heralded the family's strong interest in wine to the outside world. Today, through several branches, the family owns both the Chateau Lafite Rothschild and the neighboring Chateau Mouton Rothschild, both of which are classified at the highest level with the Premier Grand Cru Classé in the 1855 classification.

Chateau Lafite Rothschild is in Pauillac north of Bordeaux. With the soil and climate, there is a basis for producing some of the world's best wines based on cabernet sauvignon.

Prior to the World's Fair in Paris in 1855, the chateaux in Bordeaux were classified - a classification that has been crucial to the development of Bordeaux as a wine region to this day. 

In this context the best chateaux were classified as premier grand cru classé and in Pauillac three of these castles are located; Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Latour. Of these, Lafite Rothschild has always been recognized as the most elegant

The Rothschild family today owning several chateaux, both in Pauillac and the rest of Bordeaux, which they operate in the best way. The goal is quality and they make no compromise to achieve this. In recent years, investments have been made in both new cellars and a large part in the vineyards. It has been rewarded with reviews at Wine Advocat and has settled more stably at the high end of the scale. The family's work up to now has led them to this beautiful 150th anniversary, which is marked with this unique label that makes this special edition extra interesting for you as an investor.

Anniversary & Special Editions - Strong Investment Cases

Limited editions, special editions and anniversary editions are in demand, whether we are talking watches, Lego sets, cars or sneakers. In the world of wine, it is no different and the prospect of facing a special edition of the upcoming 2018 Lafite Rothschild, before the entire wine world knows it, is a great opportunity. The information has only been leaked and not published from official channels yet.

Chateau Lafite Rothschild has previously marked special items with different items on their bottles. In 2016, they put on an hourglass to mark the connection between soil and air, as well as to show that the wine requires patience. However, this mark of 150-year ownership is expected to be marked even stronger vis-à-vis the market.

Such special editions have in the past tended to be particularly expensive. For example, we saw it with 2015 Margaux (a special black bottle with gold print) and 2000 Mouton Rothshild (also a special black bottle with a golden ram):

2015 Margaux: The average price of the other, surrounding vintages (2010-2019 ex. 2015) is today € 380*. Vintage 2015 today costs approx. € 1,000*, which is 163% more than the average of the other surrounding vintages. The average score** among these 10 vintages is 96.6. Year 2015 has 99 points just like year 2016, while the average is dragged down by the 2011 and 2013 vintage with respectively 93 and 91 points.

2000 Mouton Rothschild: Here the average price of the surrounding vintages (1996-2005 ex. 2000) is € 412* with only approx. € 100 as opposed to the cheapest to the most expensive. The famous 2000 vintage today costs approx. € 1,500* which is more than 260% more than the average price of the others. The vintage is admittedly among the best with 97 points**, which is the same as the 1996 and 1998 vintage, but still surpassed by the 2005 vintage.

There is thus a great potential upside when investing in 2018 Lafite Rothschild as the marked has not yet reacted to the fact that this is becoming a special anniversary edition.

*Liv-ex market price
**Robart Parker’s Wine Advocate