Tasting 114-Year-Old Wine With the Rothschilds at Château Lafite

The long table in Château Lafite Rothschild’s dining room last Friday was set with old silver, smooth white linen and polished crystal, all lit by the soft light of a grand chandelier. On a sideboard sat a selection of superlative vintages dating back to 1905, the year of the first Russian revolution.

On the cream-colored walls, portraits of Rothschild ancestors in gilt frames looked on as 14 wine collectors and a solitary journalist slid into their seats alongside Saskia de Rothschild, the new chairman of the company, and her father, Baron Eric de Rothschild, to enjoy a family dinner. The idea? To let guests soak up the Bordeaux first growth’s atmosphere and encourage them on March 30 to bid big—very big—at Zachys’ auction of wines direct from the château’s cellars at Le Bernardin Privé in New York.