Château Mouton Rothschild

Château Mouton Rothschild, situated just north of the village of Pauillac, is the most gregarious and extravagant of the Médoc's first growth châteaux. Mouton makes great wine and great theatre too – from its golden statues, fine art and museum that welcomes floods of tourists – to the ever changing label on the bottle.

Mouton's grand vin is Chateau Mouton-Rothschild (around 25000 cases per annum), its second wine is called Le Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild.

 Mouton Rothschild has been under the Barons de Rothschild ownership for over 150 years, and it was the unremitting efforts of the flamboyant Baron Philippe de Rothschild that resulted in Mouton's historical upgrade to premier Grand cru status in 1973 – the only change ever made to the Bordeaux classification of 1855.

Prior to the Médoc classification, Mouton's wine labels declared, 'Premier ne puis, Second ne daigne, Mouton suis' (First I cannot be, Second I do not deign to be, I am Mouton). After the upgrade, the motto was changed to 'Premier je suis, second je fus, Mouton ne change' (First I am, second I was, Mouton does not change).

Under Baron Philippe, Mouton decided to bottle all his wine on site, instead of selling on in barrels to local négociants, which was the norm in Bordeaux. This was a massive undertaking and a move swiftly followed by the ‘first growth’ estates. During WWII Mouton served as a military headquarters and production was under the direct supervision of Goering himself. After a period of exile in England and at the end of the WWII, owner Baron Philippe returned to Bordeaux, but sadly his wife had died in a concentration camp.

In 1945, to commemorate victory, the Baron commissioned artist Philippe Jullian to design a label, which included a V for Victory. This started a unique feature and each year since, with a couple of exceptions, an artist is commissioned to design a label. Famous artists such as Chagal, Miro, Dali, Bacon, Picasso and even Prince Charles have all contributed, for which they were paid 5 cases of the vintage they were depicting and 5 cases of an older vintage.

Baron Philippe's only daughter Baronne Philippine succeeded the Baron upon his death in 1988 and currently runs Mouton with her sons.