Sell How to Identify Real Fake Lafite Wine

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 strict crackdowns on counterfeiting, "high-imitation Lafite" remains hard to prevent. Let's see if you can spot the fake – which one below is the real Lafite?

Lafite's "family" is vast, making it easy for fakes to blend in. I've summarized a few methods to distinguish between real and fake Lafite. It's recommended to use several methods simultaneously to prevent fakes from ending up in unscrupulous merchants' pockets.

1. Check the label
Strictly speaking, wines under Lafite's umbrella are only part of the Lafite Group's series of red wines, not Lafite wine itself. Only Carruades de Lafite and Château Lafite Rothschild belong to the Château Lafite series. (Please remember the correct labels below)

Bottled at the estate (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 betray you, so save the images and refer to them when necessary. If there are spelling errors in any of the three places on the label mentioned above, it can be identified as a counterfeit.

It's worth noting that to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Rothschild family's buyback of Château Lafite, a hot air balloon was added to the 2018 label (the initials 'CL' represent the Roman numeral 150 and are also placed on the neck of the 2018 release bottle) to reflect the "modernity and adventurousness" of the wine's first vintage.

2. Check the capsule
Lafite's bottle capsule is the easiest to identify. Its design features the château at the top, with "Lafite Rothschild" written in the middle. The capsules shown below are from the 1980s to 2002, and the designs are largely similar. The only difference is that the color of the capsule varies slightly, displaying different shades of red.

Château motif on Lafite Grand Vin capsule

The capsule of Lafite's second wine, Carruades de Lafite, has "Domains Barons de Rothschild" written on the outer ring, and the Rothschild five-arrow emblem in the middle. If you look closely, you'll notice that these five arrows are slightly different from those on Mouton, with the word "Lafite" printed above the central "R", representing the Lafite Rothschild family.

Lafite Second Wine capsule design

The side of every Lafite cork is imprinted with the corresponding vintage, and on the other side, there is an image of Château Lafite and the words "Grand Vin de Château Lafite Rothschild". The cork designs for different vintages of Lafite are largely similar.

Generally, corks from older vintages of Lafite should not appear too new, unless they have undergone "re-corking". Counterfeit Lafite corks are usually too new or too short, and their craftsmanship is often crude.

4. Check the bottle
Before 1996, Lafite bottles looked like ordinary Bordeaux bottles, without any design below the neck. However, in 1996, to prevent counterfeiting, the winery adopted a special bottle. Below are the designs for different vintages~
Bottle designs for different vintages

1985: Engraved with the year 1985 and a Halley's Comet design, commemorating the comet's return.

Before 1996: No design between the label and the bottle neck.From 1996 onwards: The bottle is engraved with the Rothschild family crest—the five-arrow emblem, with "Lafite" in the center.

1999: The bottle is engraved with sun, moon, and 1999 designs to commemorate the total solar eclipse.

2000: The bottle is engraved with "2000" in the center of the five-arrow crest to commemorate the millennium.

2005: The bottle is engraved with a scale design, 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 "" (eight) to attract the attention of Chinese consumers. There is also a theory that it commemorates the Rothschild family's cooperation in establishing a vineyard in Penglai, Shandong.

If you find an engraved design between the label and the bottle neck of a Lafite Grand Vin from before 1996, you can conclude it's a counterfeit, except for the 1985 vintage. If you don't find an engraved design on a bottle from after 1996, you can also conclude it's a counterfeit.

5. Check texture & printing
First, the label of genuine Lafite red wine is silk-screen printed, so if you touch it, the label will feel uneven and textured;
Second, the main image on genuine Lafite wine is that of a farmer working on the winery's land, with every line clear and distinct. Poor quality labels have bad printing, uneven ink, blurry images, and low clarity.

6. Official anti-counterfeiting technology
If you're really worried about buying high-imitation Lafite, both Grand Vin and second wine, you can buy vintages from 2009 onwards, because from that year, and from 2012 onwards for ex-cellar releases, both Grand Vin and second wine Lafite have used "bubble anti-counterfeiting labels" which are extremely difficult to forge.

Below the silver bubble code, there is a two-line anti-counterfeiting code. Consumers can go to the official website http://www.lafite.com/ anti-counterfeiting page and enter the code to query. If it is not a genuine Lafite, the following prompt will appear:

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