How to distinguish real and fake Lafite wine?
1: Look at the iron sheet sealing the bottle
Lafite's bottle sealing iron plate is easy to identify. Its design features a winery castle on top and the words Lafite Rothschild in the middle. Bottle sealing irons were made from the 1980s to 2002, and the designs are all similar. The difference is that the color of the iron pieces is slightly different, showing a different red color. The iron sheet on the lower right side of the picture is the bottle sealing iron sheet of the Lafite brand Carruades de Lafite, with Domains Barons de Rothschild written on it, and the five arrows of Rothschild in the middle. If you look carefully, you will find that these five arrows are slightly different from Mouton's five arrows. The R in the middle is printed with the word Lafite, which represents the Lafite Rothschild family.
2: Look at the bottle
Before 1996, Lafite bottles were just like ordinary Bordeaux wines, with no pattern under the bottle neck. But in 1996, in order to prevent counterfeiting, the winery adopted a special wine bottle.
As early as 1985, Lafite's bottle was engraved with a special pattern to commemorate the astronomical phenomenon that Halley's Comet returns only once every 76 years. So the bottle was engraved with the year 1985 and Halley’s Comet. Apart from this special edition, Lafite has always only used regular Bordeaux bottles. It was not until 1996 that the Rothschild family logo, the design of five arrows and the word Lafite were engraved on the bottle. In 1999, the bottle had a new trick.
Three: Look at the cork
Lafite corks of different years are displayed. From left to right, they are Lafite corks from 1983, 1985, 1986, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2002. On the side of the cork, the year is printed, but on the top of the cork, there is no pattern or year stamped. On the other side of the cork, the Lafite pattern is printed with the words Grand Vin de Chateau Lafite Rothschild. In fact, the designs of Lafite wine bottle stoppers of different vintages are very similar.
(Pictures and texts come from the Internet)
