Château Mouton Rothschild is a wine estate located in the village of

Pauillac Pauillac (; ) is a municipality in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The city is mid-way between Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave, along the Gironde, the largest estuary in western Europe. Population Acces ...

in the

Médoc The Médoc (; ) is a region of France, well known as a wine growing region, located in the '' département'' of Gironde, on the left bank of the Gironde estuary, northwest of Bordeaux. Its name comes from ''( Pagus) Medullicus'', or "country ...

region, 50 km (30 mi) north-west of the city of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, France. Originally known as ''Château Brane-Mouton'', its red

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

was renamed by

Nathaniel de Rothschild Nathaniel de Rothschild (1812–1870), was a businessman, banker and winemaker. He established the Château Mouton Rothschild. Early life Nathaniel de Rothschild was born on 2 July 1812 in London. He was the fourth child of Nathan Mayer Roth ...

in 1853 to ''Château Mouton Rothschild''. In the 1920s it began the practice of bottling the harvest at the estate itself, rather than shipping the wine to merchants for bottling elsewhere. The branch of the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...

owning Mouton Rothschild are members of the

Primum Familiae Vini Primum Familiae Vini (often abbreviated PFV, Latin: "First Families of Wine") is an association of family-owned winery, wineries with a membership limited to twelve families. History The association was established in 1993 by Miguel A. Torres, Mi ...

History

In 1718, Château Mouton and

Château Calon-Ségur Château Calon-Ségur is a winery in the Saint-Estèphe appellation of the Bordeaux wine region of France. The wine produced here was classified as one of fourteen ''Troisièmes Crus Classés'' (Third Growths) in the historic Bordeaux Wine Off ...

were acquired by Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur, who already owned

Château Lafite A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking reg ...

and

Château Latour Château Latour is a French wine estate, rated as a First Growth under the 1855 Bordeaux Classification. Latour lies at the very southeastern tip of the commune of Pauillac in the Médoc region to the north-west of Bordeaux, at its border with ...

. With the death of Nicolas-Alexandre Ségur in 1755, his estate was divided among four daughters. The

Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the Exposition Universelle (1855), 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor Napoleon III of France, Napoleon III requested a classification system for France's best Bordea ...

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 Lafite Rothschild is a French wine estate of Bordeaux wine, Bordeaux wine, located in Pauillac in France, owned by members of the Rothschild family since the 19th century, and rated as a First Growth under the Bordeaux Wine Official Clas ...

, Château Mouton Rothschild was excluded from First Great Growth status, an act that Baron Philippe de Rothschild referred to as "the monstrous injustice". It is 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 (excepting the 1856 addition of

Château Cantemerle Château Cantemerle is a winery in the Haut-Médoc AOC, Haut-Médoc Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, appellation of the Bordeaux wine region of France, in the commune of Macau, Gironde, Macau. The wine produced here was the final estate to be c ...

). This prompted a change of

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

: previously, the motto of the wine was ''Premier ne puis, second ne daigne, Mouton suis.'' ("First, I cannot be. Second, I do not deign 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 does not change.")

Vineyards

Château Mouton Rothschild has its vineyards on the slopes leading down to the

Gironde Estuary The Gironde estuary ( , US usually ; , ; , ) is a navigable estuary (though often referred to as a river) in southwest France and is formed from the meeting of the rivers Dordogne and Garonne just downstream of the centre of Bordeaux. Coverin ...

, in the

region, mainly producing grapes of the

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...

variety. Today, Château Mouton Rothschild has of grape vines made up of Cabernet Sauvignon (81%), Merlot (15%), Cabernet Franc (3%) and Petit Verdot (1%). 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. It is also frequently confused with the widely distributed generic Bordeaux

Mouton Cadet Mouton Cadet is the brand name of a popular range of modestly priced, generic Bordeaux wines, considered Bordeaux's most successful brand.winepros.com.au. Created by Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Mouton Cadet wine is produced through the assembly o ...

Labels

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, after the success of the 1945 label, this became a permanent and significant aspect of the Mouton image with labels created by some of the world's great painters and sculptors. Artists such as

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

and Miró designed labels for bottles of Mouton Rothschild. Few exceptions are to point: To celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the acquisition of Château Mouton, the portrait of Baron

appeared on the 1953 label. The 1973 label was dedicated to Pablo Picasso who died 8 April the same year. In 1977, the

Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also ...

Elizabeth visited the Château and a special label was designed to commemorate the visit. In 1978 when

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

artist

Jean-Paul Riopelle Jean-Paul Riopelle, (October 7, 1923 – March 12, 2002) was a Canadian painter and sculptor from Quebec. He had one of the longest and most important international careers of the sixteen signatories of the '' Refus Global'', the 1948 manifest ...

submitted two designs. Baron Philippe de Rothschild liked them equally so he split the production run and used both designs. In 1987 Baroness Philippine de Rothschild dedicated the label to her father Baron Philippe de Rothschild died on 20 January 1988. The 1993 Mouton label, a pencil drawing of a nude reclining

nymphet "Lolita" is an English-language term defining a young girl as "precociously seductive." It originates from Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel ''Lolita,'' which portrays the narrator Humbert's sexual obsession with and victimization of a 12-year-old ...

by the French painter

Balthus Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his ima ...

was rejected for use in the United States by the

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention ...

. 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. An unusual gold enamel bottle was made for the 2000 vintage. The 2003 label marks the 150th anniversary of Mouton's entry into the family. Baron Nathaniel is depicted on the label in a period photograph. The background shows part of the deed of sale. The popularity of the label images results in

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

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. The 2013 vintage has the work of Korean artist Lee Ufan. File:Mouton-1975.JPG, 1975 File:Mouton83_1.jpg, 1983 File:Mouton-1990.JPG, 1990 File:Mouton Rothschild 1991.jpg, 1991 File:Mouton-1992.JPG, 1992 File:Mouton Rothschild 1993.jpg, 1993 File:Mouton Rothschild 1994.jpg, 1994 File:Mouton Rothschild 1995.jpg, 1995 File:Mouton-1996.JPG, 1996 File:Mouton Rothschild 1998.jpg, 1998 File:Mouton Rothschild 2000.jpg, 2000

Price

The ''grand vin'', Château Mouton Rothschild, is one of the world's most expensive and highly rated wines, with the average price of a 750ml bottle reaching $604.

Business dealings

In 1978, the company Baron Philippe de Rothschild officially announced their joint venture with

Robert Mondavi Robert Gerald Mondavi (June 18, 1913 – May 16, 2008) was an American winemaker. His technical and marketing strategies brought worldwide recognition for the wines of the Napa Valley in California. From an early period, Mondavi promoted label ...

to create

Opus One Winery Opus One Winery is a winery in Oakville, California, Oakville, California, United States. The wine was called napamedoc until 1982 when it was named Opus One. The winery was founded as a joint venture between Philippe de Rothschild, Baron Philipp ...

Oakville, California Oakville is a census-designated place (CDP) in the of Napa County, northern California. The population was 71 at the 2010 census. Oakville's ZIP Code is 94562, and it is located in area code 707. The local economy is based on Napa Valley wine ...

. The 1990s saw large-scale expansion in the Americas under the leadership of President Cor Dubois, with the region eventually contributing almost half of the company's turnover. In 1998, Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA teamed up with Concha y Toro of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

to produce a quality premium red wine in a new winery/bodega built in Chile's

Maipo Valley Maipo Province () is one of six provinces in the Santiago Metropolitan Region of central Chile. Its capital is San Bernardo. Administration As a province, Maipo is a second-level administrative division of Chile, governed by a provincial delegate ...

: Almaviva. The same year saw the launch of Escudo Rojo, a fine Chilean branded wine. In June 2003, the vineyard hosted ''La Fête de la Fleur'' at the end of

Vinexpo Vinexpo is one of the largest exhibitions for wine and spirits professionals from all over the world, held in Bordeaux in uneven years. The first event dates back to year 1981 gathering 524 exhibitors from 21 countries 11,000 professional visitors ...

to coincide with their 150th anniversary. 2013 : new range of three Chilean varietal wines (Sauvignon blanc, Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon) was launched in 2013 under the name Anderra. In the same time, in order to secure grape supplies and ensure the development of its Chilean branded wines business, Baron Philippe de Rothschild acquired 960 hectares from Viña Villavicencio.

Judgment of Paris

The 1970 vintage took second place, and was the highest ranked French wine, at the historic 1976

Judgment of Paris The Judgement of Paris is a story from Greek mythology, which was one of the events that led up to the Trojan War, and in later versions to the foundation of Rome. Eris (mythology), Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding ...

wine competition A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages, categories, and/or brands of wine. Wine competitions generally use Blind wine tasting, blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the ...

In popular culture

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

's 1954 short story "Friends from Philadelphia", first published by ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', the protagonist, John, attempts to buy a bottle of wine for his parents's dinner party, but he is denied, being too young to purchase alcohol. His parents are college educated, though not necessarily very wealthy. He seeks the help of his friend's parents at a nearby house as his home is about a mile up the road. His friend's parents are not college educated, though they have a good deal of money. They agree to accompany him to the store and to purchase the wine for him. He has $2.00, which his mother gave him, with which to purchase the wine, and, after a car ride in a brand new Buick during which he becomes embarrassed when questioned about what kind of car his father drives, John gives his friend's father the money. His friend's father, in what seems to be an active gesture of financial superiority signifying his internal struggle with the inferiority of his own education, purchases a bottle of Château Mouton Rothschild 1937, and gives it to John along with $1.26 in change. John goes home to the dinner party somewhat dismayed, for the wrong reason, that he failed to follow his mother's instructions to buy a bottle that is "inexpensive but nice." Château Mouton Rothschild wine plays a brief, but important part in the 1971

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film '' Diamonds Are Forever''. After Bond (

Sean Connery Sir Thomas Sean Connery (25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to Portrayal of James Bond in film, portray the fictional British secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in motion pic ...

) tastes a glass of Mouton Rothschild 1955, he casually remarks that he had expected a

claret Bordeaux wine (; ) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city, the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the broad estuary called the Gironde; the Gir ...

with the grand dinner he has been served. When the villain Mr. Wint (

Bruce Glover Bruce Herbert Glover (May 2, 1932 – March 12, 2025) was an American character actor, who is best known for portraying the assassin Mr. Wint in the James Bond film '' Diamonds Are Forever'' (1971). Other notable film appearances include roles ...

) replies that the cellars are poorly stocked with clarets, Bond exposes Wint's ignorance, pointing out that Mouton Rothschild, in fact, ''is'' a claret.

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

cites it as one of the world's greatest wines in his short story "The Butler", from '' More Tales of the Unexpected''. In the film ''

Weekend at Bernie's ''Weekend at Bernie's'' is a 1989 American black comedy film directed by Ted Kotcheff, written by Robert Klane, and starring Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Catherine Mary Stewart, and Terry Kiser. It tells the story of two young in ...

'', a bottle of Mouton Rothschild 1982 is visible on the table during the scene where Bernie (

Terry Kiser Terry Kiser (born August 1, 1939) is an American actor. While he has more than 140 acting credits to his name, with a career spanning more than 50 years, he is best known for portraying the deceased title character Bernie Lomax in the comedy '' ...

) proposes having his two employees killed and framed for his insurance fraud. In Agatha Christie's short story "The Labors of Hercules", the story opens with Hercule Poirot speaking with Dr. Burton over a glass of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Dr. Burton describes the wine as "Very good wine, this. Very sound." In ''

The Spy (TV series) ''The Spy'' is a French English-language espionage television miniseries, created and directed by Gideon Raff, based on the life of Israel's top Mossad spy Eli Cohen, who is portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen (no relation). The series is a produc ...

'' approximately 5 minutes from the start of the episode #3 '' Alone in Damascus'', the Israeli spy

Eli Cohen Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen (‎; ‎; 26 December 1924 – 18 May 1965) was an Egyptian-born Israeli spy. He is best known for his espionage work in Syria between 1961 and 1965, where he developed close relationships with the Syrian poli ...

(

Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen ( ; born 13 October 1971) is an English comedian, actor and performance artist. Known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Haf ...

) orders a bottle of Mouton Rothschild 1945 during the scene in the restaurant on his marine trip from

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

: "I'll have the '45 Château Mouton Rothschild". He does so just to show off his wealth and become noticed by a wealthy Syrian businessman from Damascus, Sheikh Majid Al-Ard.

References

External links

Official Website for Château Mouton Rothschild

Baron Philippe de Rothschild official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Rothschild family residences Bordeaux wine producers Primum Familiae Vini