Château Mouton Rothschild

Château Mouton Rothschild, Premier Cru, benefits from exceptional natural conditions, in terms of the quality of its soils as well as its exposure and sunshine.
It is the subject of meticulous care, combining respect for tradition with the most modern techniques: winegrowers and oenologists devoted specifically to monitoring and caring for the vines, a harvest carried out entirely by hand, in small crates, vinification in an oak vat room, and maturation in new oak barrels.
Designed and built by the scenographer Richard Peduzzi and the Bordeaux architect Bernard Mazières, in consultation with Phillipe Dhalluin, Managing Director of the family company in charge of the “Pôle Châteaux”, Château Mouton Rothschild inaugurated on 16 June 2013 a splendid vat room marrying tradition and technical progress, with a tasting room opening onto the vines.
After a rigorous selection, the best vats of the harvest are chosen to make up the first wine. The rest, in a quantity that varies with each vintage, becomes the second wine, Le Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild. In addition, since 1991, Mouton has produced a great white Bordeaux, Aile d’Argent, on four hectares of its terroir.
In 1853, Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild, of the English branch of the family, bought château Brane-Mouton, which he immediately renamed château Mouton Rothschild. Yet despite the excellence of the growth, no member of the family took a real interest in it until 1922. That year, aged 20, Baron Philippe, charmed by the property and its surroundings, decided to make it his life’s work. The 65 years of his reign were marked by his strong personality, his entrepreneurial spirit and his sense of innovation. In 1924, he initiated full château bottling, a practice unheard of until then. In 1926, he had the famous “Grand Chai” (100 m long) built by the architect Charles Siclis.
In 1945, to celebrate the Liberation, Baron Philippe had the original idea of crowning the label of that vintage with an appropriate drawing. It was the “V” for victory and the beginning of the fascinating collection of original works created each year by famous painters for the Mouton labels (Mirò, Chagall, Braque, Picasso, Warhol, Delvaux, Bacon, Motherwell…). In 1981, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild was to conceive and promote a touring exhibition of this collection. In 1962, the Museum of Wine in Art was inaugurated, bringing together three millennia of precious objects devoted to the vine and wine. Mouton became a major tourist attraction, drawing thousands of visitors each year, and thus had an exhibition space for the works of art that have illustrated its labels since 1945.
In 1973, after a long struggle, Baron Philippe obtained the revision of the 1855 classification, and Mouton officially rose to the rank of Premier Cru Classé.
After the death of Baron Philippe de Rothschild in 1988, his daughter, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, who had already been involved in her father’s work for several years, took the destinies of Mouton in hand. Since then, she has devoted herself to ever increasing the quality and renown of this great wine, whose motto proudly proclaims: “Premier je suis, second je fus, Mouton ne change”. Baroness Philippine de Rothschild is now actively assisted by her two sons, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, Vice-President, and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild. All share the same ambition for the present and future of Mouton: that it should raise its quality as a Premier Cru Classé ever higher, that it should preserve its family character over the generations – and that it should remain a space of art and beauty. “Mouton ne change”… but it always reinvents itself!