Cabernet Sauvignon 84%, Merlot 13%, Cabernet Franc 2% and Petit Verdot 1%
Château Mouton Rothschild is located in the commune of Pauillac, in the Medoc, 30 miles (50km) northwest of the city of Bordeaux. The grand vin is among the most highly rated and priced wines in the world, and is generally regarded as the most exuberant and powerful of all Bordeaux. It was famously added to the First Growths set out in the 1855 Classification in 1973. The château started life as Brane-Mouton, and was among the best in Bordeaux through the 18th and early 19th Centuries, although there was a dip in quality and price in the 1840s. The Rothschild family bought (and renamed) the property in 1853 and quickly restored its reputation.
The estate comprises 84 hectares (207 acres) of vineyards, mainly on gravel-based soils, and is situated in the northern part of the commune just south of Château Lafite Rothschild. Most of the vineyard is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon (80 percent), with 16 percent planted to Merlot as well as small plots of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The portion of each variety vinified into the grand vin depends on the vintage but will always be Cabernet Sauvignon dominant thanks to variety’s rich content of supple tannins. The vineyard, typically for top Médoc estates, is densely planted and the average vine age is more than 40 years old. Harvest is done by hand, and the juice is fermented in oak vats in a gravity-fed vat room opened in 2012. After fermentation, the wine sees 18 months in new oak prior to bottling. Mouton Rothschild produces up to 350,000 bottles of wine each vintage,
The 2020 Mouton Rothschild is a striking wine and one that I regretted not purchasing en primeur as soon as it landed in my glass. Offering up complex aromas of minty cassis, pencil shavings, loamy soil, cigar wrapper, espresso roast and violets, it’s medium to full-bodied, broad and layered, with terrific concentrated, beautifully refined tannins and a long, penetrating finish. Checking in at 12.8% alcohol, its incipient complexity, ineffable sense of completeness and exquisite balance mark it out as the purists’ choice among the trio of 2018, 2019 and 2020. In this vintage, the lots that made it into the blend were largely confined to the core gravel terroirs that represent Mouton’s heart, meaning that there’s a little less to go around. This was the first vintage overseen by Mouton’s new technical director, Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy, and he has begun with a flying start.
ROBERT PARKER – 100POINTS
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