1986 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild Bordeaux - 100 Pts!

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, but not in time for the 1855 Classification of Médoc wines, in which Mouton was only ranked a second growth wine. Where as Lafite, Latour, Margaux and Haut-Brion attained Premier Cru Classé status.

Baron Philippe de Rothschild took control in 1922 and introduced château bottling in 1924, requiring the construction of the iconic barrel hall. At the end of World War II he also instigated the commissioning of a different artist each year to design the label. But his crowning achievement was the promotion of Mouton in 1973 to first growth status – the first change to the 1855 order.

Mouton Rothschild makes up to 350,000 bottles of wine a year, including the second wine Le Petit Mouton, which was established in 1993. It is made with grapes from selected younger vines, vinified in the same Mouton vats and aged in oak barrels. Around a hectare of white grapes was planted in the early 1980s to make the very rare Aile d'Argent Bordeaux Blanc.

Varietal	Bordeaux Blend
Vintage	1986
Rating	RP100/WS99/ST95
Bottle Size	750 ml
Bottle Quantity	1
Country	France
Region	Bordeaux
Location	Pauillac
Producer	Mouton-Rothschild
Color	Red
Wine Type	Table

Rating

RP100 - After stumbling over some wines I thought were high class Bordeaux I nailed this wine in one of the blind tastings for this article. In most tastings where a great Bordeaux is inserted with California Cabernets the Bordeaux comes across as drier more austere and not nearly as rich and concentrated (California wines are inevitably fruitier and more massive). To put it mildly the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild held its own (and then some) in a flight that included the Caymus Special selection Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23 Dunn Howell Mountain and Joseph Phelps Eisele Vineyard. Clearly the youngest looking most opaque and concentrated wine of the group it tastes as if it has not budged in development since I first tasted it out of barrel in March 1987. An enormously concentrated massive Mouton-Rothschild comparable in quality but not style to the 1982 1959 and 1945 this impeccably made wine is still in its infancy. Interestingly when I was in Bordeaux several years ago I had this wine served to me blind from a magnum that had been opened and decanted 48 hours previously. Even then it still tasted like a barrel sample! I suspect the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild requires a minimum of 15-20 more years of cellaring; it has the potential to last for 50-100 years! Given the outrageously high prices being fetched by so many of the great 1982s and 1990s (and lest I forget the 1995 Bordeaux futures) it appears this wine might still be one of the "relative bargains" in the fine wine marketplace. I wonder how many readers will be in shape to drink it when it does finally reach full maturity? RP

Wine Spectator	WS99

Burghound

Varietal	Bordeaux Blend
Vintage	1986
Rating	RP100/WS99/ST95
Bottle Size	750 ml
Bottle Quantity	1
Country	France
Region	Bordeaux
Location	Pauillac
Producer	Mouton-Rothschild
Color	Red
Wine Type	Table

1986 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild Bordeaux - 750ml