Château Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France, 2000

Vault Wine: This wine is stored in our vault.

Overview of the Wine
Chateau Mouton Rothschild, a Premier Cru Classé from the Bordeaux region and one of the world's greatest wines, is owned by Baroness Philippine de Rothschild. The estate includes 205 acres of vines at Pauillac planted with Cabernet Sauvignon (77%), Merlot (11%), Cabernet Franc (10%) and Petit Verdot (2%).

In 1853, Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild bought Chateau Brane-Mouton. In 1922, his great-grandson Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988) decided to take the future of the estate into his own hands. His 65 years at Mouton bear witness to the strength of his personality, his spirit of enterprise and his sense of innovation.

In 1922, he was the first to introduce chateau bottling. In 1926, he built the famous Grand Chai, the majestic 100-meter first year cellar, which has become a major attraction for visitors to Mouton. 1945 marked the start of a fascinating collection of works of art, created every year for the Mouton label by famous painters. In 1973, after a twenty-year battle, Baron Philippe obtained a revision of the 1855 classification and Mouton was officially recognized as a First Growth.

In 1988, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild succeeded her father Baron Philippe. She has become the guarantor of the quality of an illustrious wine whose motto proudly proclaims, "First I am, second I was, I Mouton do not change."

Winemaker
Philippe Dhalluin

Grape / Blend
86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot

Origin
Bordeaux, France

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
The wine has an attractively deep color with a garnet hue and an open, complex nose dominated by notes of humus and fern along with jammy fruit and prunes. Full on the attack, it shows opulence and attractive substance over close-knit, caressing tannins, developing intense roast coffee notes set off by a lovely reminder of the humus aromas on the nose. The powerful, full-bodied finish lingers long on the palate, revealing the expression and sheer class of great Mouton vintages, reminiscent in its richness and harmony of the very fine 1986.

97 Points - Wine Advocate
Deep garnet colored with a touch of brick, the 2000 Mouton Rothschild (composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot) boldly bursts from the glass with tantalizing Black Forest cake, dried mulberries, kirsch and blackcurrant pastilles notes plus wafts of iodine, incense, potpourri and cinnamon stick with a hint of cigar boxes. Medium to full-bodied, the palate packs in the muscular fruit, framed by firm, ripe, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with phenomenal length. This is an incredibly complex and multifaceted wine, and it's drinking deliciously now. This said, I can’t help but feel that it is holding something back, that it still has another layer of opulence and seduction to reveal in its tight-knit fruit and solid structure. I personally can’t wait to see how this beauty will continue to unfold over the years to come. Rating: 97+

97 Points - Wine Enthusiast
With its distinctive antique bottle and gold etched label dominated by a sheep, this is definitely a move away from classic Bordeaux bottling. It is good that the wine can support the presentation. The fruit is so ripe, it almost tastes of raisins, but that sweetness is finely balanced by the dry tannins and concentrated texture. To finish, there are exotic spices, giving an almost oriental character to the long aftertaste.

96 Points - Decanter
A little more open than the other four Firsts in the vintage, with undergrowth, baked earth and gentle spice alongside the truffles, smoked caramel, spice and bilberry fruits. It shows plenty of the trademark Mouton generosity and ripe tannic structure and is lusciously textured. This came in at 80% 1st wine. It wasn't until Philippe Dhalluin arrived a few years later that production for the 1st wine would be lowered, with significantly more Petit Mouton being made (Lafite and Latour both closer to 50% 1st wine for similar sized estates). That's not to say that you won't be thrilled to open and drink this wine, and it will undoubtedly show that same stubborn unwillingness to fade away that the First Growths all share. 100% new oak. (JA)

95 Points - Int'l Wine Cellar
Bright deep ruby with the barest hint of garnet; still very youthful. Enticing, complex nose of cassis, smoky cedar, violet, underbrush and kirsch; very Pauillac, if in a ripe style. Dense, rich and suave in the mouth, with lively acidity nicely framing the rich flavors of blackcurrant, blackberry jam, milk chocolate, grilled bread and spicy underbrush. Finishes with noble tannins and outstanding chocolatey persistence. A great Mouton and much better than another recently tasted bottle that had shown some signs of premature evolution. Though this wine comes across as quite smoky and chocolatey, Tourbier points out that Mouton has been using barrels with a medium or medium-plus toast since 1994 (more heavily charred barrels were used here from 1989 through 1993). The excellent millennium vintage featured a hot and humid year characterized by a very large crop and a fairly rainy first part of the year, but a very dry and warm second half resulted in considerable hydric stress (especially on the Right Bank.) (ID)

93 Points - James Suckling
The nose is very intense, super-ripe and rich, verging on jammy. Notes of leather, spices and prunes. Full-bodied, soft and beautiful with ripe tannins and a long finish. This is soft and yummy right now. Drink or hold.

93 Points - Wine Spectator
Rounded, fleshy and a bit extracted in feel, with dark plum, blackberry and fig jam flavors that flirt with a pruny edge, picking up lots of warm mocha, singed vanilla bean and ganache notes through the finish. This relies more on easy opulence than on depth or purity on the end.—2000 Bordeaux blind retrospective (December 2015). Drink now through 2023. 

Product size: 750mL