Who is this Rothschild guy anyway?

One little bit of history that I find interesting (and was thus hoping to find in the Rothschild case from last week) is the story of the Rothschild family.

The case mentioned a bit on the family's history, which led me to read up on them a little bit.  I thought the following two bits of history really stand out and demonstrate how impressive (and diversely skilled) of a family the Rothschilds were and are today.

1) The family dates back to the 18th century, where they initially built a banking empire, establishing banks in nearly every major nation in Western Europe.  Ultimately as the family network grew larger with every generation, the family started to split off their respective fortunes into separate empires.  Obviously certain parts of the family focused on winemaking, but others continued working in banking and Rothschild & Co is a major investment bank today.

2) Yes, Lafite Rothschild is one of the best known Bordeaux wines in the world.  Care to know the name of the winery that they are neighbors with?  Mouton Rothschild!  Yes, Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild are two separate wine labels originally founded by different members of the Rothschild family, both of which produce wines among the best (and most expensive) in the world.  A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Mouton Rothschild chateau, and I got to learn a bit about that side of the family.  Not only did we get to walk through the winemaking rooms (we were there in November, so slightly after harvest), we also got to walk through the museum (yes, there is a museum there) and see both an extremely odd art collection and an interesting exhibit on the history of their labels.  Mouton Rothschild is (I believe) unique in that they produce a different label for their wine each year, and commission a world-class artist to produce the work for that year's label.  Past artists include David Hockney, Jeff Koons, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.  This is not surprisingly something they are quite proud of and have tons of information on all the labels on their website: https://www.chateau-mouton-rothschild.com/label-art/discover-the-artwork


Here are a few pictures I could dig up from my visit there:

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothschild_family