First Growth
Vines first appeared on what is now known as the Mouton-Rothschild estate in the early 18th century.
The Rothschild family bought the property in 1853. The driving force, however, proved to be a later arrival, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, who assumed control in 1922. He was a dynamic figure who revolutionised much of the running of the estate. He was the first to introduce château-bottling, as early as 1924, and instigated the practice, after the Second World War, of employing a different artist each year to design the label. His greatest achievement was to have Mouton upgraded to 1st Growth Status in 1973, the only change ever to be made to the 1855 Classification. Philippe died in 1988 and the estate passed into the hands of his daughter, Philippine.
The vineyard, comprising 75 hectares of mainly gravel-based soils, is planted to 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. Grapes are hand-picked, and the juice is fermented in barrel, not in vat. After fermentation the wine is aged in new oak for 22 months before bottling. Total production is 25-30,000 cases, split between Mouton itself and the second wine, Le Petit Mouton, established in 1993.
For the label for Mouton Rothschild 2001, Robert Wilson has chosen to set Philippine in a symphony of colours in which the green of the vine shoots and the gold of the sun harmonise with the chromatic scale of the wine, from light red to deep purple