Château Mouton Rothschild 1997

Historically speaking, the vineyards of today's Chateau Mouton Rothschild date back to the 14th century. The year 1311 was an important date for the estate's current reputation, as the vineyards belonged to the landowner Pons de Castillon. In the 15th century, the land was passed on and eventually also belonged to a brother of Henry V. Further changes of ownership of Mouton Rothschild followed in the subsequent years. Some of the owners were Jacques de Ségur and Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur, who in 1717 significantly expanded the ownership to include the vineyards of Château Calon-Ségur. The current owners of Chateau Mouton Rothschild received the estate in 1922, when Henri James de Rothschild bequeathed it to his son Philippe de Rothschild. From then on, the Mouton Rothschild estate, which had fallen into disrepute due to gross mismanagement, was to experience a boom. Baron Philippe de Rothschild saw Chateau Mouton Rothschild as his purpose in life and invested a great deal of time and money in renovation work in the cellar and vineyard. Chateau Mouton Rothschild was also the first producer to break away from the wine merchants, who controlled the entire Bordeaux trade at the time, in order to bottle the wine themselves. This was probably the birth of the "Mise en bouteille au Château", the brainchild of Baron Philippe de Rothschild. He was regarded as a driving force and innovator throughout the Bordeaux wine-growing region. He felt that the old ways were not suitable for "his" Mouton Rothschild life's work and he searched with all his energy for ways to improve the wines of Mouton Rothschild and to enhance its reputation, which had suffered greatly between 1900 and 1920. In 1945, the Baron introduced a hitherto unthinkable innovation for the wines of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Perhaps triggered by the joy at the end of the First World War, Mouton Rothschild decided to have the wine label designed by a well-known artist with immediate effect. This was intended to emphasise the individuality of the wine and improve the status of the chateau. Philippe Jullian was chosen as the first artist. From then on, the wines of Chateau Mouton Rothschild were coveted collectors' bottles among wine connoisseurs in Europe, not least because of the changed label. Almost every famous artist has embellished the labels of Chateau Mouton Rothschild in recent years. These include names such as Salvador Dalí, Georges Mathieu, Henry Moore, César, Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Saul Steinberg, Georg Baselitz and Prince Charles. 1945 was an outstanding vintage that saw Chateau Mouton Rothschild soar to new heights under the leadership of the ever-active Baron Phillippe. Further sensational vintages followed, such as 1953, 1959 and 1961, and the reputation of Chateau Mouton Rothschild continued to grow with each vintage, with wine critics placing it in the rank of a 1er Cru classé wine. However, the classification of the Bordeaux region written in 1855 for the world exhibition in Paris could not be changed, which visibly annoyed the baron and demanded a great deal of strength from him. He now set himself the goal of finally raising Chateau Mouton Rothschild to the highest rank of classification before his death. However, it should be noted that no changes had ever been made to the Bordelais classification since its inception. The life's work of Baron Philippe de Rothschild was finally crowned in 1973 when Château Mouton Rothschild was upgraded from Deuxième to Premier Cru. Even today, Château Mouton Rothschild is the epitome of red Bordeaux wine and often fetches top prices in the international wine trade. The 1945 vintage of the century is now traded at up to 5,000 euros per bottle. However, it should be noted that no wine is more popular among counterfeiters than Mouton Rothschild. The 1945, 1982 and 1986 vintages in particular are at the top of the lists. When buying bottles of Mouton Rothschild from all vintages, you should therefore ensure that they are authentic and only buy from reputable merchants.