Château Mouton Rothschild
Château Mouton Rothschild, located 50 km (30 mi) north-west of the city of
Bordeaux,
France in an area known as the
Médoc, specifically the village of
Pauillac. It is regarded as one of the world's greatest
wines. Originally known as
Château Brane-Mouton it was renamed by
Nathaniel de Rothschild in 1853 to
Château Mouton Rothschild. It was the first estate to begin complete
château bottling of the harvest.
|
Picasso memorial wine label |
The
Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 was based entirely on recent market prices for a vineyard's wines, with one exception: Château Mouton Rothschild. Despite the market prices for their vineyard's wines equalling that of
Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château Mouton Rothschild was excluded from
First Great Growth status, an act that
Baron Philippe de Rothschild referred to as "the monstrous injustice." It's widely believed that the exception was made because the vineyard had recently been purchased by an Englishman and was no longer in French ownership.
In 1973, Mouton was elevated to "
first growth" status after decades of intense lobbying by its powerful and influential owner, the only change in the original 1855 classification. This prompted a change of
motto: previously, the motto of the wine was
Premier ne puis, second ne daigne, Mouton suis. ("First, I cannot be. Second, I do not condescend to be. Mouton, I am."), and it was changed to
Premier je suis, Second je fus, Mouton ne change. ("First, I am. Second, I used to be. Mouton, I do not change.")
Château Mouton Rothschild has its vineyards on the slopes leading down to the Gironde Estuary, in the
Bordeaux region, mainly producing grapes of the
Cabernet Sauvignon variety. Today, Château Mouton Rothschild has 203 acres (0.8 km²) of grape vines made up of Cabernet Sauvignon (77%), Merlot (11%), Cabernet Franc (10%) and Petit Verdot (2%). Their wine is fermented in oak vats (they are one of the last châteaux in the Médoc to use them) and then matured in new oak casks. Mouton is known for the exotic, unusual character of their wines. It is also frequently confused with the widely distributed generic Bordeaux
Mouton Cadet, even though the two differ in price by approximately an order of magnitude, and share little besides being Bordeaux produced by the same family.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild came up with the idea of having each year's label designed by a famous artist of the day. In 1946, this became a permanent and significant aspect of the Mouton image with labels created by some of the world's great painters and sculptors. The only exception to date is the unusual gold-enamel 2000 bottle.
To celebrate the hundredth birthday of the acquisition of Château Mouton, the portrait of Baron
Nathaniel de Rothschild appeared on the
1953 label. In
1977, England's
Queen Elizabeth II and the
Queen Mother visited the château and a special label was designed to commemorate the visit.
Twice in the history of their special labels, there have been two used for the same year. The first occurred in 1978 when
Montreal artist
Jean-Paul Riopelle submitted two designs. Baron Philippe de Rothschild liked them equally so he split the production run and used both designs. The 1993 Mouton label, a pencil drawing of a nude reclining
nymphet by the French painter
Balthus was rejected for use in the
United States by the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. As such, for the U.S. market the label was made with a blank space where the image should have been and both versions are sought after by collectors. The popularity of the label images results in
auction prices for older and more collectible years being far out of sync with the other first growths, whose labels do not change year to year.
*
1945:
Philippe Jullian*
1946:
Jean Hugo*
1947:
Jean Cocteau*
1948:
Marie Laurencin*
1949:
André Dignimont*
1950:
Arnulf*
1951:
Marcel Vertès*
1952:
Léonor Fini*
1953:
Année du Centenaire*
1954:
Jean Carzou*
1955:
Georges Braque*
1956:
Pavel Techelitchew*
1957:
André Masson*
1958:
Salvador Dalí*
1959:
Richard Lippold*
1960:
Jacques Villon*
1961:
Georges Mathieu*
1962:
Matta*
1963:
Bernard Dufour*
1964:
Henry Moore*
1965:
Dorothea Tanning*
1966:
Pierre Alechinsky*
1967:
César*
1968:
Bona*
1969:
Joan Miró*
1970:
Marc Chagall*
1971:
Wassily Kandinsky*
1972:
Serge Poliakoff*
1973:
Pablo Picasso*
1974:
Robert Motherwell*
1975:
Andy Warhol*
1976:
Pierre Soulages*
1977: "Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II"
*
1978:
Jean-Paul Riopelle (2 labels)
*
1979:
Hisao Domoto*
1980:
Hans Hartung*
1981:
Arman*
1982:
John Huston*
1983:
Saul Steinberg*
1984:
Agam*
1985:
Paul Delvaux*
1986:
Bernard Séjourné*
1987:
Hans Erni*
1988:
Keith Haring*
1989:
Georg Baselitz*
1990:
Francis Bacon*
1991:
Setsuko*
1992:
Per Kirkeby*
1993:
Balthus (2 labels)
*
1994:
Karel Appel*
1995:
Antoni Tàpies*
1996:
Gu Gan*
1997:
Niki de Saint Phalle*
1998:
Rufino Tamayo*
1999:
Raymond Savignac*
2000: "Special gold enamel relief of the Augsburg Ram" (
Mouton)
*
2001:
Robert Wilson*
2002:
Ilya Kabakov*
2003: "A 150th Birthday Tribute"
In 1980, the vineyard officially announced their joint venture with
Robert Mondavi to create
Opus One Winery in
Oakville, California. In
1997, Château Mouton Rothschild teamed up with
Concha y Toro of
Chile to produce a quality Cabernet Sauvignon-based red wine in a new winery built in Chile's
Maipo Valley.
The operation is today run by Baroness
Philippine de Rothschild. In June of 2003, the vineyard hosted
La Fête de la Fleur at the end of
Vinexpo to coincide with their 150th anniversary.
*In the historic
Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, Château Mouton Rothschild won second place among the field of ten red wines.
*In the
Ottawa Wine Tasting of 1981, it ranked number eleven in the field of 13.
*In the
Wine Spectator Wine Tasting of 1986, it ranked number seven in the competition of ten.
*In the
French Culinary Institute Wine Tasting of 1986, it ranked number five among the field of nine.
*In the
San Diego Wine Tasting of 1975, it and
Château Latour tied for second place in the field of ten.
*In the
Halekulani Wine Tasting of 2000, it fell into the unranked wines below the top three in the field of 17.
* In
The Wine Rematch of the Century, it ranked number six in the field of ten.
*
French Wine*
Bordeaux wine*Taber, George M.
Judgment of Paris: Caliifornia vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting that Revolutionized wine. NY: Scribner, 2005.
*
Château Mouton Rothschild*
Château Mouton Rothschild: The Artist Labels*Maurice Chittenden and Ed Habershon. Rothschilds Choke on a Wine Tasting.
the Sunday Times (London), May 28, 2006 [
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