Château Mouton Rothschild

Le Château Mouton Rothschild est élaboré à partir de Cabernet Sauvignon (77 %), Cabernet Franc (12 %), Merlot (9 %) et de Petit Verdot (2 %), des variétés de raisin issues de vignes âgées de 50 ans en moyenne.

Après la fin des vendanges, la fermentation se déroule en cuve de 225 hectolitres avec une macération durant 15 à 25 jours. Le Château Mouton Rothschild reste alors 22 mois dans du chêne avant d’être mis en bouteille.

Les vins du Château Mouton Rothschild se distinguent également par leur étiquette, confiée chaque année à un artiste de renom différent, et ce, depuis 1945. Une spécificité qui apporte une dimension supplémentaire au charme suscité par ce prestigieux Premier Grand Cru Classé.

Le Château Mouton Rothschild est produit à hauteur de 25000 caisses environ chaque année. Le domaine produit également un second vin rouge : Le Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild, à découvrir également sur La Cave Patrimoniale Sàrl

if you want extravagance, it is to Château Mouton-Rothschild that you must come, as I discovered many years ago when I visited the château for the first time. Fine art adorns the walls in the waiting room, looking down upon ancient statuary. Fully prepared to make the short walk along the brushed-gravel drive to the tasting room in the light drizzle of springtime in Bordeaux I found such independence was frowned upon; I acquiesced, and let the staff ferry me there in one of their electric all-weather golf buggies (pictured above), about which I wrote in the introduction to my Bordeaux 2009 Top Ten selection (with more than a modicum of poetic license, admittedly).

Once deposited in the tasting room, there is no option but to revel in the decadence of it all, the rooms adorned with golden sculptures, more statues, life-size wooden rams and giant gilt-framed mirrors. And, if you were lucky, before she passed away you might have found Baroness Philippine de Rothschild (1933 - 2014) there, holding court and entertaining visitors. And let us not forget the wines (they are why we are here, after all), opulently seductive, full of the spice of Château Mouton-Rothschild, just like their very surroundings. Some of course will see such presentation as gaudy and brash, one that lacks the decorum of a real premier grand cru classé, a reference to Mouton's elevation from second to first growth by ministerial decree in 1973, 118 years after the classification was drawn up. For some, at least, it will take a very long time for mention of Mouton's late promotion to become passé.

Such criticisms, however, will not be heard coming from my lips. I like the staging of it all; it is fun and outgoing, perhaps somewhat less sacerdotal than some of Mouton's peers who, some might say, take themselves just a little too seriously from time to time. And besides, who can resist a ride on a turbo-charged electric vehicle, gravel spitting from its wildly spinning rear wheels (there's that poetic licence creeping in again) as you career past the vines of a Pauillac first growth, narrowly missing wiping out part of this year's crop in the process.

This profile, one of the most detailed I have written for this site, deals with everything Mouton, from the origins of the estate, how it developed, the Mouton-Rothschild labels, the story of how the promotion to premier grand cru classé was won, the vineyards and wines and, of course, the people behind them. First though, in the next instalment of this profile, I start with a little history, as we travel back in time to examine the origins of the Mouton estate.Chris Kissack

Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA

33250 Pauillac
Telephone: +33 (0) 5 56 73 20 20
Fax: +33 (0) 5 56 73 20 44
Internet: www.bpdr.com

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