Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2012
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Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
Rich, deeply colored, well-structured and very full-bodied, the 2012 vintage promises to be a great success.
About the Label Artwork
Born in the village of Felanitx on the island of Majorca in 1957, the Catalan painter and sculptor Miquel Barceló studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Palma, the island’s capital. Initially influenced by abstract expressionism, his painting subsequently became more figurative. During the 1980s, the support of leading gallery owners such as Yvon Lambert and Leo Castelli, and museums like Bordeaux’s Centre for Contemporary Visual Arts (CAPC) gave his career international impetus. From 1988, his extensive travels in Africa not only generated thousands of sketches but also renewed his inspiration and his technique by initiating him into sculpture and ceramics. Distinctions have proliferated since 1995. In Paris, where he has his studio, an exhibition of his works was held at the Museum of Modern Art in 1996 and his water colours were displayed at the Louvre in 2004. He was presented with the Prince of Asturias Award in 2003. He created a major work for Palma Cathedral, inaugurated by King Juan Carlos. He decorated the dome of the Palace of Nations in Geneva, represented Spain at the Venice Biennale and, in 2010, amazed Avignon and Paris with his Terra Mare exhibition. Each occasion gave this multi-faceted artist an opportunity to impose his universe, at once realistic and dreamlike, a realm of intense colours, combining a wide range of different materials and media, transforming his paintings into flat sculptures with bristling rough surfaces. Fascinated by the depiction of animals and by prehistoric cave paintings, Barceló is a member of the Chauvet Cave scientific committee.
This recent source of inspiration can be seen in his fresco for Mouton 2012, which revisits the Château’s historical emblem. Its two rams, symmetrical and face-to-face, are a reminder that the balance and harmony of a great wine, already present in nature, still set a challenge to be met by the work of human hands.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a beautifully opulent wine, great Mouton in its richness and succulent fruits. It’s combines structure and obvious new-wood aging with hugely ripe black plum and currant flavors. While it is a pleasure to taste now, there is a great tannic structure in the background to give the sense of power and aging potential. Drink from 2024. Cellar Selection.
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James Suckling
What a nose of blackberries, blackcurrants, minerals and graphite. Full-bodied, extremely fine and polished. Sexy and ethereal. Harmony. A little salty. Fabulous 2012. Pure silk. Better after 2020 but so wonderful now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Tasted at the Mouton-Rothschild vertical in London, the 2012 Mouton-Rothschild clearly has the upper hand over the 2011, if not quite at the level of the 2009, 2010 and what I envisage will be the 2015. There is obviously greater fruit intensity here, as if the contrast has been dialed up a couple of notches. It is quite showy on the nose, preening in its infancy with pure black cherries, graphite and hints of cold slate-like scents, later that hint of seaweed I observed when tasted blind a few months earlier. The palate is beautifully balanced with great vim and vigor. This is a Mouton that will not be put down - vivacious, vivid and delineated with wonderful focus and crucially, impressive persistence on the finish. Do not underestimate this Mouton-Rothschild, because I can see an upswing as it matures in bottle. Tasted April 2016.
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Wine Spectator
This has a stunningly pure core of plum, black currant and black cherry fruit, with supple yet long structure that has melded wonderfully already. Anise, violet and cassis notes pour in on the finish. The fruit makes it seem almost too easy, but this will cellar well thanks to outstanding balance. A huge but very stylish wine. Best from 2018 through 2030.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2012 Château Mouton Rothschild is an excellent wine in a year in which only the best players performed well. Expansive and fully-textured on the palate, the wine offers a full display of intense Pauillac flavors—black currants, boysenberries, earth, and mineral. Its substantive length on the palate ensures longtime ageabilty. This First Growth appears to be the top wine of the vintage. (Tasted: April 8, 2013, Pauillac, France) Barrel Sample: 93-95
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Wine
A First Classified Growth, Château Mouton Rothschild spans 82 hectares (202 acres) of vines at Pauillac in the Médoc, planted with the classic varieties of the region: Cabernet Sauvignon (79%), Merlot (17%), Cabernet Franc (3 %), Petit Verdot (1 %). The average age of the vines is 50 years.
The estate benefits from exceptionally favourable natural conditions, in the quality of the soil, the position of its vines and their exposure to the sun. Combining respect for tradition with the latest technology, it receives meticulous attention from grape to bottle. The wine is matured in new French oak barrels.
Le Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild is the second wine of Château Mouton Rothschild.
The estate also comprises 6 hectares (15 acres) of sandy, gravelly soil planted with Sauvignon Blanc (51%), Semillon (40%) and Sauvignon Gris (9%), used to make its white wine, Aile d’Argent.
Brought to the pinnacle by two exceptional people, Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988) then his daughter Baroness Philippine (1933-2014), its destiny has now been taken in hand by her three children: Camille and Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild. True to their grandfather’s and mother’s work, all three are committed, with the same enthusiasm and determination, to perpetuating Baron Philippe’s dictum: “Live for the vine”. Almost a command, it means being there for the vineyard in good times and in hardship, serving it with skill and honouring it with art.
Château Mouton Rothschild is a place of art and beauty, famous for the spectacular vista of its great barrel hall, its remarkable vat room and its Museum of Wine in Art. Every year since 1945, the Château Mouton Rothschild label has been illustrated with an original artwork by a great contemporary artist. Dalí, César, Miró, Chagall, Warhol, Soulages, Bacon, Balthus, Tàpies, Koons and Doig are only some of the artists featured in a fascinating collection to which a new work is added each year and which makes up the Paintings for the Labels exhibition.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
The leader on the Left Bank in number of first growth classified producers within its boundaries, Pauillac has more than any of the other appellations, at three of the five. Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild border St. Estephe on its northern end and Chateau Latour is at Pauillac’s southern end, bordering St. Julien.
While the first growths are certainly some of the better producers of the Left Bank, today they often compete with some of the “lower ranked” producers (second, third, fourth, fifth growth) in quality and value. The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification that goes back to 1855. The finest chateaux in that year were judged on the basis of reputation and trading price; changes in rank since then have been miniscule at best. Today producers such as Chateau Pontet-Canet, Chateau Grand Puy-Lacoste, Chateau Lynch-Bages, among others (all fifth growth) offer some of the most outstanding wines in all of Bordeaux.
Defining characteristics of fine wines from Pauillac (i.e. Cabernet-based Bordeaux Blends) include inky and juicy blackcurrant, cedar or cigar box and plush or chalky tannins.
Layers of gravel in the Pauillac region are key to its wines’ character and quality. The layers offer excellent drainage in the relatively flat topography of the region allowing water to run off into “jalles” or streams, which subsequently flow off into the Gironde.