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.
