THE PRODUCER
Mouton-Rothschild has a long history with wines having been made on the land
since Roman times. In 1853, the estate was acquired by the Rothschild family,
but it was not until Baron Philippe took charge of the running of the estate in
1922 that things started to change most importantly with his tireless
campaigning for the estates promotion to First Growth status.

Arguably overlooked in 1855, when the chateau was classified “only” as Second
Growth, Baron Phillipe began his “First I cannot be; Second I do not deign to
be; Mouton I am” campaign that placed Mouton in everybody’s mind as a deserving
First Growth. Eventually promoted to First Growth in 1973 Baron Phillipe changed
the song to “First I am; Second I was, but Mouton does not change.” The 1973
upgrade of Mouton-Rothschild to First Growth status is pretty much the only
alteration ever to have been made to the 1855 classification.

In 1945, Baron Phillipe was also the one to start commissioning artists to
design the wine labels – each vintage’s label would bear a different artists
work. Artists have over the years included Salvador Dali, Lucian Freud and
Francis Bacon. Pablo Picasso designed the label for the 1973 vintage. Baron
Phillipe was also the one to introduce chateau bottling in 1924, at the time a
true novelty in the region.

83 hectares of vines are planted with 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 3%
Cabernet Franc and the remainder Petit Verdot. The total production of both the
Grand Vin and the second wine (‘Le Petit Mouton’, introduced in 1993) is around
25,000-30,000 bottles. Fermented in oak barrels and maturing for another 22
months in oak barrels, Mouton-Rothschild is often described as being more
exotic, flamboyant and sumptuous compared to the other First Growths.

THE WINE
The blend of grape varieties, for Mouton’s Grand Vin, varies a little according
to vintage conditions and fruit ripeness, but usually includes a Cabernet
Sauvignon proportion in the high 70%, complemented by Merlot, Cabernet Franc and
Petit Verdot. The average age of the vines are around 45 years, but some – from
the Baronne Philippine plot – are close to 120 years old. Fermentation takes
place in oak barrels and is followed by ageing for around 22 months in 100% new
oak barrels. Mouton-Rothschild is often described as being more exotic,
flamboyant, and sumptuous compared to the other First Growths, and is a wine of
incredible power, opulence, and complexity.

INFORMATION
Type:RedVintage:2000Country:FranceRegion:BordeauxSub region:PauillacGrape:86%
Cabernet Sauvignon & 14% MerlotStyle:Savory and ClassicSweetness:DryABV:12.5%
Drinking window:2010 - 2055Size:750mlFood match:Beef and VenisonCRITICS SCORES
We choose our wines based on a range of criteria(seehow we choose our wines)of
which critic scores is justone. Rather than simply highlight the best score to
promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided
by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do
not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more
weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores
like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a92/100average critic score or
better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a
high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we
offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the
market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and
representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide
to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add
individual critic scores to our website in the future.