LAFITE

by Cyril Ray ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 28, 1969

Mr. Ray, although a British writer on wine, has been dubbed ""Commandeur de Bontemps du Medoc et les Graves"" by a grateful French wine industry. And with good reason. Ray combines discernment with a shamelessly acquisitive appreciation of historical and contemporary detail about the greatest of wines in their environs. Even those who have not progressed beyond Taylor's Red and think of Lafite as a pirate will be diverted. Mr. Ray tramps up the Medoc area where the finest grapes are grown; discourses knowledgeably on the appellations of 1855 when Lafite claret was officially crowned tops in first growth; follows the curiously offhand wine-growing progress of the Rothschilds, one of whom purchased Chateau Lafite in 1868--another the Chateau Mouton, (perennially Number Two). Mr. Ray is informal, undandified throughout, reflecting Baron Elie Rothschild's advice on claret: "". . . pull out the cork and lap it up."" Vin superieur for tourists wine bibbers, Rothschild watchers and Francophiles.

Pub Date: March 28, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION