Château Raymond-Lafon Château Raymond-Lafon Château Raymond-Lafon is an unclassified Sauternes wine producer from the Sauternes appellation. The estate's sweet wines are a result of the onset of "noble rot" ("Botrytis cinerea"). Raymond-Lafon is located in the southern part of France’s Bordeaux wine region in the district of Graves, immediately north of Sauternes' most historically rated vineyard, Château d'Yquem, east of Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey and Château Clos Haut-Peyraguey, and south of Château Suduiraut. The 1850 edition of "Cocks & Féret" mentions the Lafon cousins, one of whom was Raymond Lafon, a mayor of Sauternes, who was later registered as a vineyard owner by 1868.
Sauternes (wine) October, Sémillon grapes were known to be infected by rot and vineyard workers had to separate rotted and clean berries but they are incomplete in regards to whether the rotted grapes were used in winemaking. By the 18th century, the practice of using nobly rotted grapes in Tokaji and Germany was well known. It seems that at this point the "unspoken secret" was more widely accepted and the reputation of Sauternes rose to rival those of the German and Hungarian dessert wines. By the end of the 18th century, the region's reputation for Sauternes was internationally known: Thomas Jefferson was