As IronGate.Wine celebrates its 15 year anniversary, we have the great pleasure of offering one of the most iconic wines in the world. A wine that also happens to be celebrating its 150th birthday, the 1869 Lafite-Rothschild.
This bottle is nothing short of exceptional. As a rare, pre-phylloxera wine, this vintage was the first to be Chateau bottled at Lafite. It also marked the first vintage under the ownership of Baron James de Rothschild.
Zachy’s sold a magnum format at auction for $123,500 USD in April, 2019, described the 1869 vintage as being “a rare year that combines quality and quantity. It was the perfect climate for growth and the harvest (which fell on September 15th). The wines of 1869 are the result of a dry season, and are better than the 1867’s”.
According to The Drinks Business, in 2010 three separate 750mL bottles were sold at a Sotheby’s action for $232,692 USD each. This bottle was the world’s most expensive standard sized bottle of wine ever sold.
When Wine Spectator published a tasting note for this wine in their November, 1991 issue, it was described as “very vibrant for a wine of this age, with substantial cherry flavour and a bit of Roquefort in the aroma. Drying out on the finish, but still quite impressive”. A true testament to the longevity and caliber of the chateau, this bottle is a true collector’s item that has captured a window of time in history.
We came into this bottle from an avid private collector in Montreal. It was sourced from a deep cellar in Outremont and was stored meticulously with temperature and humidity control, evidenced by its fine condition. We have provided exact photos of the bottle on our site for your viewing convenience, detailing all the perfect imperfections of Chateau bottling in the 19th Century. It’s with excitement that we are able to extend this to our clients, for this is a bottle not worth missing out on.
You can read the full press release below.
Cheers, Megan
IronGate.Wine Offers One of the World’s Rarest Wines for Sale
150 year old 1869 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild offered for US $24,000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 5, 2019 – BUFFALO, NY
IronGate.Wine, a leading online wine retailer of private collections, is pleased to announce that they will offer for sale an incredibly rare single bottle (750ml) of 1869 Chateau Lafite-Rothschildtoday on their website for $24,000, an incredible deal for this historic bottle!
“When we came upon this bottle in the cellar of a prolific collector in Montreal we were understandably quite excited,” said IronGate.Wine President, Warren Porter. “Chateau Lafite of course was awarded first growth status in 1855 and this was the very first chateau bottling following the property’s purchase by Baron Rothschild in 1868. To say this is rare is an understatement” Porter continued.
Prior to the 2018 sale of a 1945 Romanee Conti, the 1869 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild (ex-chateau) achieved a world record as the most expensive bottle of wine sold at auction when it fetched US$232,692 at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in 2010. More recently, Zachy’s auction sold a magnum (1500ml) of the same vintage for US$123,000 in their March 2019 sale.
This specific bottle previously went on sale in Montreal in 2017 by the SAQ, the Quebec liquor authority, where it had been thoroughly authenticated by their team of experts. It was acquired from a collection that included many wines from the 1920’s and up, as well as a 1902 Lafite.
“Clients who are looking for high definition photographs of this beautiful wine can find them on IronGate.Wine. Particular note should be taken of the awesome asymmetry of the bottle,” Porter added, “clearly the bottle making techniques have improved dramatically in the last 150 years!”
Based in upstate New York and shipping worldwide, IronGate.Wine is an online retailer of vintage wines meticulously sourced from private collectors throughout the United States and Canada. Currently there are over 3000 different unique individual wines available for purchase through the website.
For further information please contact Warren Porter at 1-888-371-2228 x713 or by email at warren@irongate.wine.
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