“First I cannot be, Second I disdain, I am Mouton,” was Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s motto as he campaigned for promotion to first growth from 1924 to 1974. Often one of the most powerful wines of Bordeaux, Mouton Rothschild can age for decades, becoming less opulent but without much loss of its remarkable density. The 1945 is generally recognized to be timeless, although perhaps now finally fading.Mouton is sui generis, but now at the center of a series of brands, with Châteaux Clerc Milon and d’Armailhac, close by in Pauillac, and the Mouton Cadet brand (which ha no connection with the chateaux other than ownership) made not very far away.

A recent visit to Mouton Rothschild showed that its facilities are eye-catching in a quite different way from the other great chateaux. Lafite has its circular barrel room, Latour has its tower (really a dovecot), Margaux has its tree-lined allée. Mouton does not have a grand chateau, just a relatively small one (wich members of the family still use) near the winery. The vinification facility was renovated from 2009 and  appears relatively workmanlike from the outside, with huge wooden doors that open to allow the grapes to be brough in. But inside are a series of collapsible wooden walls that can be removed to open it all out into a huge area for handlign the grapes. Baron Philippe’s daughter, Baroness Philippine, a great figure in Bordeaux until she died in 2014, was formerly an actress in Paris, and brought in a stage designer to produce this trompe d’oeil. The facilitywas renovated with 44 wooden vats, allowing better plot by plot vinification, using an elevator system to avoid pumping. The first vintage made in the new facility was 2012.

The doors at Mouton’s new chai open out in parts, the walls inside can be removed, and it becoems a vast open space for handling the grapes

There’s an interesting connection between Mouton and the other chateaux in the group. At Mouton, 50% of the production gos into the grand vin, and 25% goes into the second wine, Petit Mouton. The Mouton Rothschild ages for 18 months in 100% new oak, and Petit Mouton ages in 50% new oak. There is also a white wine, Aile d’Argent, which comes from 11 dedicated ha in the vineyard. Vineyards are in a single block around the winery, and the division of lots for the red wine is based on selection immediately after the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations.

The old cellars at Mouton run for hundreds of meters underground

The last 25% is declassified to a third wine, a Pauillac that also contains lots declassified from Armailhac and Clerc Milon, which do not have any second wine. This is the Baron Nathaniel Pauil;lac, which is made at the Mouton Cadet plant. So Mouton’s third selection is more or less equivalent with Armailhac and Clerc Milon’s second selection. What about a pecking order foe the chateau? Petit Mouton usually shows better than Armailhac which shows better than Clerc Milon.

Mouton is also an interesting tourist experience because, in adfition to the wine, there is also an art museum with Baroness Philippine’s collection of objects and art connected with wine, and a museum with the original artwork for all the labels.