Behind every great wine lies a series of choices, doubts, and shared intuition.
In the cellars of Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite, the 2024 blending process demanded careful listening—and a great deal of passion. This is the story, from up close, of those who taste, debate, compose…and ultimately hear the wine speak.
We often imagine that a great wine comes together naturally, as if everything were predetermined. But inside the cellars, it’s never that simple. Every year, the same table. Numbered glasses. Notebooks. Focused expressions. And above all, a shared feeling: we don’t yet know what we’re going to find. Because even after the harvest, even after fermentation, nothing is ever set in stone. The wine hasn’t had its final say.
This is where blending begins. It’s a curious term for a curious exercise: tasting each batch, judging them one by one, trying different combinations, debating, backtracking, sometimes insisting, often doubting.
‘At Lafite, the first blend of the year always took place before the first Friday of January. My father would invite the entire team for lunch at the property afterwards, and when I was little, I would watch them come out of the room…I could tell if the wine was good by the colour of their teeth. The darker they were, the better I thought the vintage would be.’ Saskia de Rothschild still remembers the first time she was invited to attend. ‘I wasn’t allowed to say a word, just taste…but I felt like I had reached the Holy Grail.’
Since then, the tradition has evolved: the first blends now take place as early as November or December, but the ritual of the January Friday remains. ‘We choose a vintage, serve a blind tasting of the five First Growths from that year. Whoever guesses all five can be very proud…and we always end with a Galette des Rois.’
Blending is physical, mental, and sensory. ‘You come out drained,’ admits one team member. Not because of the wine—although that too—but because everything is intense. Every decision shapes the wine for decades to come. And sometimes, a single barrel can change everything.
“It is not us – it’s the terroir speaking”
Olivier Trégoat
At Lafite, Duhart-Milon, L’Évangile, and Rieussec, blending is a crucial step. But it’s never a mere formality. It’s a series of choices, disagreements, tense silences, and small victories. A true team effort, where everyone brings their certainties—only to sometimes leave them at the door. ‘It’s not us, it’s the terroir speaking,’ says Olivier Trégoat, Technical Director for properties of DBR Lafite outside Pauillac.
And when a vintage, like 2024, proves unpredictable, the ritual becomes a battle. The wine resists. You have to go and find it.
Blending here begins in an almost familial atmosphere. ‘It’s very simple—Juliette takes care of everything,’ says Olivier with mock seriousness. ‘Nonsense,’ retorts Juliette Couderc, Estate Manager at Château L’Évangile, bursting into laughter.
The tone is set: no rigid protocol here, just a well-honed camaraderie. The team around the table is never larger than six: the cellar master, vineyard manager, head of R&D, Juliette, Olivier, and sometimes Saskia de Rothschild.
Decisions are made quickly, without friction. ‘We complete 95% of the blend in three or four sessions…and then spend almost as much time refining the last 5%,’ Juliette admits with a half-smile. It’s these final barrels that spark the most passionate debates.
It all begins with an exploratory tasting. Each lot is tasted one by one, blind. The team recalls the vineyard, the vintage, the story the wine is meant to tell. Then comes the sorting: Category 1 for the obvious contenders for the grand vin, Category 3 for those eliminated without regret…and in between, the infamous ‘no man’s land’ of Category 2—neither a yes nor a no.
‘It’s painstaking work,’ Olivier sums up. The team blends, re-tastes, hesitates. ‘It’s not about hedonism, it’s about sensory balance. What we’re looking for is harmony. When it clicks, we just look at each other…and we know.’
And then there are the half-points—a house specialty. ‘A 2.5 just means we’re unsure… so we postpone the decision,’ Juliette admits. ‘A 1.5 is almost a 1. A 2.5? That’s when we know we’re in for a long discussion.’
Clarity is key, too. Some vineyard plots are team favourites, like Jean Faure Nord-Ouest—‘the darling’ as it is known. But if it doesn’t fit, there’s no choice but to let it go. ‘Of course, there’s subjectivity, especially when you’ve been following the vines all year,’ acknowledges Juliette.
And in 2024, the vintage upended expectations. Against all odds, the Cabernet franc stood out from the very first session—a surprise in such a wet year, when it could have struggled to ripen. Meanwhile, two Merlot from prime terroirs never found their place. ‘We tried bringing them in through the door, the window, even the skylight…nothing worked,’ Olivier jokes.
No press wines that year either. ‘It had nothing left to say,’ Olivier states. The long macerations had already extracted everything needed—there was no point in pushing further.
“In 2024, everything hung by a thread—until it became obvious. A vintage shaped by a collective intuition.“
Same method, same rigour. At both Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Duhart-Milon, blending begins in winter. The first major tasting takes place in December, and already, personalities emerge. ‘What’s funny is that Lafite and Duhart never reveal themselves at the same time,’ notes Saskia de Rothschild. And it’s no mere figure of speech. Duhart is the first to step forward—more expressive, more demonstrative. Lafite, on the other hand, plays shy. ‘It often holds back…you have to coax it out.’ A wine that lingers in the shadows before opening up, almost as if it were testing those assembling it.
The protocol, however, remains unchanged. Each wine is scored from 1 to 5. A 1 is an obvious choice—this lot will unquestionably be part of the grand vin. A 3 is destined for the second wine. A 2 falls into that grey area, the subject for debate. This system, used across the estate, relies as much on intuition as it does on experience. ‘It’s not instinctive, it’s sensory,’ explains Éric Kohler – Technical Director. Colour, balance, mouthfeel—everything is read, felt, and compared, often without the need for words. ‘We’re not looking to see if it smells like strawberry or licorice. We’re looking to see if it feels like Lafite or Duhart.’
The most experienced tasters guide the process without dominating it. Newcomers observe, take notes, and listen. Over time, the roles balance out. A shared palate emerges. ‘The more we taste together, the more we develop the same perception, the same way of talking about the wine,’ says Saskia. That, too, is blending—a shared language.
And in 2024, that shared language was particularly intense. Long sessions, notebooks filling up, glass after glass, glances exchanged. Sometimes serious, sometimes bursting into laughter. Each person with their own perception, their own perfect phrase—or their silence. Tasting, noting, hesitating. Holding onto a lot, defending it. Letting it go.
Then, after countless back-and-forths, something clicks. No one knows exactly when, but it happens. The wine starts to speak. And everyone around the table hears the same thing. Wines with depth, vibrancy, and character. A team exhausted but elated. The kind of fatigue that feels good.
The 2024 vintage could have been a nightmare. It rained. For a long time. Too long. Even during the harvest. Every weather window was a battle, every decision a gamble. ‘We were very worried,’ confesses Bertrand Roux, Cellar Master. And yet, once the grapes were in and the first lots vinified, the drive came back. So did the hope.
Blending began in mid-January. Around sixty lots on the table, notebooks open, hearts slightly tight. Bertrand, along with Estate Director Mathieu Crosnier, led the way. Saskia de Rothschild, Olivier Tregoat, a few other key figures and guests—gathered around the table like the Avengers of Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite.
The first tasting leaves no room for debate. Each person gives a score from 1 to 5. A 1 is Château Rieussec. A 3, Carmes. And in between, that fertile grey area. ‘We start with the stars—Zidane, Messi, Mbappé… the lots that shine from the start, with richness, complexity, and structure,’ says Bertrand. ‘Then we look for the N’Golo Kantés’—those quiet, unassuming lots that hold everything together. The discreet but essential ones. Too acidic? Too rich? Doesn’t matter. At 2%, they can change everything.
Two extra hectolitres. One less. And sometimes, a decision that comes down to a single glass. Like those two lots that kept everyone on edge until the very end: one dazzlingly bright Sauvignon, one rich and opulent Sémillon. Too extreme? Too bold? They made it into the blend—just barely. Because they’re the ones that make the whole thing sing.
Meanwhile, a small miracle: the Sauvignon, particularly abundant this year, revealed an unexpected freshness. They were good in the cellar, and even better in the glass. ‘We were a little in the dark…and in the end, it all came alive,’ says Mathieu.
And then come the debates—inevitably. Some lots are hard to let go. You know their story, you’ve followed their vinification, you believed in them. But once they’re in the glass, it’s blind tasting. And it’s done as a group, which helps avoid emotional blind spots. ‘Being many around the table smooths things out. And no one is here to make themselves look good—everyone knows the style we’re aiming for.’
True taste-hunters, Château Rieussec style. The style, by the way, has evolved. Less imposing richness, more finesse, more drinkability. A shift that began a decade ago, but is now truly taking root. ‘Today, we’re aiming for a wine that’s alive, balanced, luminous. And every score we give serves that vision.’
2024 was no easy vintage. It made the team hold on tight throughout the process. And that’s what makes the result all the more rewarding. ‘We’re really proud. Because it wasn’t a given. And because it’s good. Everyone who took part in this journey should be proud—everyone gave their best,’ concludes Mathieu.
A wine that reflects precision. Born in the rain, carried by the team, and elevated by the strength of the collective.
A vintage shaped by listening and passion.
2024 was far from a smooth ride. But with instinct, attention, and passionate debate, the teams found a way forward. Wines that reflect them: demanding, spirited, profoundly vibrant.
Primeurs 2024
To stay the course, we had to chart the way. It took seasoned crews and deft seamanship to safely reach port in 2024.
Interview with Sandrine Goeyvaerts, author of 'Manifesto for Inclusive Wine' (Nouriturfu, 2021)
In each issue's 'assemblage' section, we compose a blend of shorter snippets relating to the theme.