The passion for wine that runs in the French branch of the Rothschild family was born in 1868 when James de Rothschild purchased Château Lafite. After more than a century of family history tied to the world of wine, Baron Edmond de Rothschild (great-grandson of James) took the adventure further in 1973 by acquiring two Cru Bourgeois wines in Listrac and Moulis-en-Médoc: Château Clarke and Château Malmaison. He then founded the Compagnie Vinicole Baron Edmond de Rothschild.

Pauillac is home to several of the world's most famous wine and the region lies in an inauspicious small village in Médoc. Pauillac sprawls over the land size of about 8.8 square miles, is highly optimised for wine production and accounts for a rather disproportionate amount of fine, expensive wine in Bordeaux.