Bordeaux Wine

...

after a long fight, Chateau Mouton Rothschild was given the first cru in a decree signed by Jacques Chirac, the then Minister of Agriculture.

In Baron Philippe’s 1988 death, his wife, Baroness Philippine officially took ownership of the chateau shared with by her 3 children Camille, Philippe and Julien.

Many great and significant vintages followed such as 1991’s Alie d’Argent, a very high quality dry white wine. However, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild’s true coming into the modern world came with the new cellars completed in 2013. They were designed by the team of the noted Architect, Bernard Mazieres and theatrical designer Richard Peduzzi. The renovations were extensive and included an entirely new, state of the art, gravity fed, vinification cellar. One of the unique creations was the invention of windows on the large, oak, fermentation vats. These thick glass windows all wine the wine maker to peer into the vat from the top to the bottom. The famous museum as well as the art galleries has been entirely renovated as well. The new cellars, which are estimated to have cost close to 20 million Euros were completed in time for the 2013 harvest at Mouton Rothschild. The wine is vinified in 64 large, temperature controlled wood, 225 hectoliter vats. Malolactic fermentation takes place in tank. Chateau Mouton Rothschild is always aged in 100% new, French oak barrels for an average of 19 to 22 months.

Despite all the new renovations, the chateau focused more on quality than quantity. For example, the chateau was producing as much as 30,000 cases of their Mouton Rothschild wine. Now, they average 20,000 cases or less per vintage.

With regards to the terroir, Château Mouton Rothschild spans 84 hectares (207 acres) of vines to the north-west of Bordeaux, on the edge of the Médoc peninsula. The vines are planted on a narrow strip of land 80 km long and 5 to 10 km wide, close to the river, which irrigates the soil and moderates temperature. Bordering the northern limit of the Landes forest, the land benefits from the mildness of the ocean climate while also being protected from any climate extremes.

The soil is made up of gravel which retain the heat of the sun. It is also mingled with sand and some clay which is poor and unsuitable for growing anything other than vines. The thin, gravelly soil extends down several metres over a clay-limestone base which is very accommodating to the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grape. However, The Cabernet Sauvignon grape is the predominant grape covering over 80% of the vineyard. It is from this grape that these wines have rich tannins, aroma, flavor and ageing capacity. Combined with the Merlot grape, it lends its suppleness roundness and exceptional length resulting in an elegant, powerful, richly tannic and long-lived wine.

The topography consists of a series of hillocks, generally less than 40m high, separated by lower-lying land. Their gentle slopes favour natural drainage and exposure to sunlight. The best vines often grow on these hillocks, which give their name ‘Mouton’ coming not from the animal but from “motte” or “mothon”, an old French word meaning a rise or mound, while Lafite, another Rothschild chateau, comes from “faîte”, or ridge, and Cos d’Estournel from “côte”, or slope.

To fully utilize this amazing terroir, the utmost care and precision is taken with the most up-to-date technology so as to not damage the grape in the wine making process. Complete care is taken to hand-pick the grapes. They follow a delicate process of being sorted by a vibrating table and follow gravity into the fermentation vats. No pressure or constraint is subjected to the grape. Depending on the grape, they are matured in either oak or steel. The wine is topped up when needed and fined with egg-whites to clarify and stabilise the wine by precipitating the particles suspended in it.

This prestigious wine is not only rich, deeply coloured, well-structured and very full-bodied but also full of history. The amount of care and expertise put into the products of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild is only matched by a handful of chateaus. No wonder a bottle averages