Baron Elie de Rothschild, the banker who revived Chateau Lafite after World War II, died of a heart attack at the age of 90. He was the former head of the board of the Swiss bank Rothschild AG in Zurich.

He led a program to restore the vineyards and buildings after the war and led Chateau Lafite through some excellent vintages such as the 1945, 1947 and 1949 and later the 1955, 1959 and the 1961. Baron Elie was a founding member of the Bordeaux wine guild. Chateau Lafite is one of the largest in the Médoc and produces around 35,000 cases annually of which between 15,000 and 25,000 are of its famous first growth.