Chateau Mouton Rothschild

Chateau Mouton Rothschild, owned by Baroness Philippine de Rothschild and her children, is regarded as one of the world’s greatest wines.

The story of Mouton is that of a magical combination of soil, climate and the devotion of one man, Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988), Baroness Philippine’s father.

In 1853, Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild, From the English branch of the family, bought Chateau Brane-Mouton and immediately renamed it Chateau Mouton Rothschild.

Despite the excellence of the estate, however, no member of the family took any real interest in it until 1922 when the 20-year old Baron Philippe, enchanted by the charm and beautiful setting of the chateau, decided to devote his life to it.

From the outset, his ambition was to make Mouton unique, producing the very best wine. His 65 years at Mouton bear witness to the strength of his personality, his spirit of enterprise and his sense of innovation.

In 1924, he was the first to introduce entire chateau bottling, a practice hitherto unheard of, which demonstrated the owner’s assumption of greater responsibility.

In 1926, he built the famous Grand Chai, the majestic 100-metre barrel hall which is still an outstanding feature of Mouton. In 1945, to celebrate the liberation of France, Baron Philippe had the imaginative idea of crowning the label for that year’s vintage with a suitable design. It was the “V” for victory, the first in a long line of original works of art created for each vintage by famous painters, including Chagall, Braque, Picasso, Bacon, Warthol, Balthus, etc. Baroness Philippine displayed this unique collection to the public in 1981, in an exhibition that has since travelled the world.

In 1962, Andre Malraux inaugurated the Museum of Wine in Art, a collection of precious objects devoted to wine and the vine from three millennia. Mouton soon became a popular tourist site, attracting thousands of visitors a year. Baron Phillippe’s last challenge was to obtain a revision of the 1855 classification so that Mouton would be officially recognised as a First Growth.

After 20 years spent fighting official inertia and the status quo, he won his battle in 1973. Since then, Chateau Mouton Rothschild has been an acknowledged member of the elite to which it had in fact belonged for many years already. Today under the ownership of Baroness Philipine de Rothschild the chateau maintains its ranking as producing one of the finest wines of Bordeaux, and perhaps one the finest red wine in the world.