Castle Winery teaches you how to identify genuine and fake Lafite red wine at a glance
In 1982, the rating agency Parker gave Lafite a perfect score of 100, and since then, Lafite's value has soared. Coupled with media hype, Lafite has become a household name in China. Even with current strict measures against counterfeiting, "high-quality fake Lafite" is still hard to prevent. Let's see if you can spot the fake: which one below is genuine Lafite?
The "family" of Lafite is enormous, and it's easy for fakes to slip through. I've summarized a few methods to distinguish genuine Lafite from fakes. It's recommended to use several methods simultaneously to prevent unscrupulous vendors from profiting from counterfeits.
1. Check the label
Strictly speaking, the wines under Lafite's brand are only series wines produced by the Lafite Group, not Lafite wines themselves. Only Grand Vin de Lafite and Carruades de Lafite belong to the Château Lafite Rothschild series. (Please remember the correct labels below)
Bottled at the château (MIS EN BOUTEILLE AU CHÂTEAU)
Second wine bottled at the property (MIS EN BOUTEILLE À LA PROPRIÉTÉ)
Grand Vin (CHATEAU LAFITE ROTHSCHILD)
Second Wine (CARRUADES de LAFITE)Appellation (PAUILLAC)
Memory can be fallible, so please save these images and refer to them when necessary. If there are spelling errors in any of the three places mentioned above on the label, it can be identified as a counterfeit.
It's worth noting that to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Rothschild family's acquisition of Château Lafite, a hot air balloon was added to the 2018 label (the initials 'CL' represent the Roman numeral 150, also placed on the neck of the 2018 vintage bottle) to reflect the "modernity and adventure" of the wine's first vintage.
2. Check the capsule
Lafite's bottle cap is the easiest to identify. Its design features the château at the top, and "Lafite Rothschild" is written in the middle. The bottle caps shown below are from the 80s to 2002; the designs are largely similar. The only difference is the slight variation in the color of the cap, displaying different shades of red.
The Grand Vin Lafite capsule features a château design
The capsule of Lafite's second wine, Carruades de Lafite, has "Domains Barons de Rothschild" written around the outer circle, and the Rothschild five-arrow emblem in the middle. If you look closely, you'll notice that these five arrows are slightly different from Mouton's five arrows. Above the central 'R', the word "Lafite" is printed, representing the Lafite Rothschild family.
Lafite second wine capsule design
The side of each Lafite cork is printed with the corresponding vintage year. On the other side of the cork, the Château Lafite Rothschild emblem is printed, along with the words "Grand Vin de Château Lafite Rothschild." The design of the corks for different Lafite vintages is largely similar.
Generally, for older Lafite vintages, the corks will not be too new unless they have undergone a "re-corking" process. Counterfeit Lafite corks are usually too new or too short, and their craftsmanship is very rough.
4. Check the bottle
Before 1996, Lafite bottles were like ordinary Bordeaux bottles, with no pattern below the neck. However, in 1996, to prevent counterfeiting, the winery adopted a special bottle. Below are the patterns for different vintages~
Bottle patterns for different vintages
1985: Engraved with 1985 and a Halley's Comet pattern to commemorate its return.
Before 1996: No pattern between the label and the neck.From 1996: The bottle is engraved with the Rothschild family emblem—the five arrows pattern, with "Lafite" in the middle.
1999: The bottle is engraved with sun, moon, and 1999 patterns to commemorate the total solar eclipse.
2000: The bottle is engraved with 2000 in the middle of the five-arrow emblem, to commemorate the millennium.
2005: The bottle is engraved with a balance scale pattern, with rain and sunshine on either side, indicating
the balance of rainfall and sunlight in 2005, a year of exceptional wine quality.
2008: The bottle is engraved with 2008 and the Chinese character "八" (eight) to attract attention from Chinese consumers. It is also said to commemorate the Rothschild family's cooperation in establishing a vineyard in Penglai, Shandong.
If you find an engraved pattern between the label and the neck of a Lafite Grand Vin bottle from before 1996, you can consider it a fake, except for 1985. If you don't find an engraved pattern on a bottle from after 1996, you can also consider it a fake.
▲ The 2000 Lafite bottle with the year and the Rothschild family emblem combined
5. Check the texture & printing
First, genuine Lafite red wine labels are screen-printed, so the label feels textured and layered when touched;
Second, the main image on a genuine Lafite label depicts grape growers working on the winery's land, with every line and detail clear. Inferior labels have poor printing quality, uneven ink, blurry images, and poor clarity.
6. Official anti-counterfeiting technology
If you are genuinely concerned about buying high-quality fake Lafite, you can opt for vintages from 2009 onwards, because from this vintage year, and released from the cellar after 2012, both Grand Vin and Carruades de Lafite have adopted a "bubble anti-counterfeiting label" that is extremely difficult to counterfeit.
Below the silver bubble code is a two-line anti-counterfeiting code. Consumers can visit the official website http://www.lafite.com/ and enter the code on the anti-counterfeiting page to inquire. If it is not a genuine Lafite, a prompt like the one below will appear:
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