Château Lafite Rothschild has been seen as the most aristocratic of the first growths. Purchased by Baron James de Rothschild in 1868, the land's wine history goes back to Roman times, with stops on the best tables of the Middle Ages, King Louis XV, Madame de Pompadour and the president of the local parliament until he was guillotined during the French Revolution. The property passed from the state to Dutch and British owners before settling with the Rothschilds. The wine is complex and refined; in great vintages, it is also one of the most long-lived wines in the world.