At 33, Saskia de Rothschild is the youngest person currently leading a Premier Grand Cru Bordeaux estate, the legendary Château Lafite Rothschild, which has been in her family since 1868. She’s also the first-ever female chairwoman of Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite), the Rothschilds’ wine empire with its portfolio of eight prestigious wineries on three continents.
The world’s most expensive and sought-after Bordeaux, current Château Lafite Rothschild vintages cost around US$700 a bottle, while highly-coveted bottles such as the 1982 sell for around US$4,000 (according to Bloomberg). A former investigative reporter, Saskia, Lafite’s sixth generation winemaker, has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia and worked for the New York Times in Paris skills that came in handy for her latest project, Château Lafite: The Almanac, a beautiful new book published by Flammarion.
Anniversary 17 Year Old
Royal Lochnagar is a tiny distillery, and most of its output is used as components in blended scotch whiskies, such as Johnny Walker Black and Blue labels. But, to celebrate its 175
th anniversary it has released this rare, and highly collectable, mid-aged single malt. The original distillery, founded in 1826, was burnt down in suspicious circumstances fifteen years later.
It reopened on its current site in 1845. The new location, close to the Balmoral Estate lead to a visit from Queen Victoria in 1848, and a royal warrant soon followed. Aged in a combination European oak sherry casks, and bottled at cask strength, the 17-year-old is an exceptional highland single malt, which melds local flavours of bracken and bramble with surprising tropical notes of melon and mango.