CHÂTEAU MOUTON ROTHSCHILD
2023 1er Cru Classé Pauillac
High Cabernet, and the grape is dominant not just in blend but character, totally delicious, with tension, flesh, and confidence, building layers of black fruits, graphite, cocoa bean, espresso, pomegranate and smoked earth throughout the palate. When Cabernet works at Mouton, it is hard to beat, and it's on full display in 2023. One of my clear wines of the vintage. Of any vintage. 100% new oak for ageing. 40% grand vin, harvest September 7 to 30. Rating: 98-100 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (May 2024)
75cl bottles (wood case of 12)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2023 Mouton Rothschild is shaping up to be one of the wines of the vintages on the Left Bank. Its balance of intense, super-concentrated fruit and equally imposing structure is spellbinding. Dark red-toned fruit, blood orange, spice, pencil shavings and dried herbs gain intensity in the glass. I especially admire its vertical build and overall energy. This is an exciting young Mouton endowed with palpable dynamic energy. It's a superb effort from the team led by Technical Director Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy. Drinking range: 2033 - 2073 Rating: 96-99 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (May 2024)
The 2023 Mouton Rothschild was picked from September 7 to 30 and contains 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, the second highest ever (after the 2010). Matured entirely in new oak as usual, this has an intense, floral bouquet with violet petals infusing the black fruit and touches of licorice loitering just off stage—very fine delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with extremely refined tannins. Focused and harmonious, it’s velvety smooth with a long and tender finish that has more crispness than the 2022. In fact, I might ultimately end up preferring this over the 2022…it will be interesting finding out in the future! Drinking range: 2030 - 2070 Rating: 96-98 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2024)
This is the most structured Mouton since the great 2016, with tannins that start slowly and then take off. It’s muscular and toned. It’s full-bodied but doesn’t come across too heavy. It builds up in intensity and goes on and on and on. It just keeps expanding. I took a double take here. 93% cabernet sauvignon and 7% merlot. Rating: 98-99 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2024)
A beautifully structured, toned Mouton. Very fine tannins and layers of soft black fruit. A really lovely 1st Growth, very correct and demonstrative of how their Cabernet has performed for them in 2023. L&S (May 2024)
93 Cabernet Sauvignon, 7 Merlot: 100% new oak for 18 months: 13.3% alc: 3.79pH: 75 IPT: Harvested 7 – 30 September While tasting with Technical Director Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy, I asked if this was the highest percentage of Cabernet ever in Mouton. It is the second highest because the 2010 vintage boasted a mighty 94%. Of course, tasting at Mouton is a privilege, and this is indeed a thrilling wine, but the position that this wine holds on one’s palate compared to last year’s 2022 makes this estate so utterly incredible. I love that 2023 Mouton has no nerves as it sits in the glass awaiting analysis. And then it starts: stylish, confident, cool, and multi-faceted. While 2022 was built on ripeness, extract, and a larger dose of press wine, it is an imposing and magnificent creation, while 2023 is more linear, sleek, refined and finely honed. It has what one might call a more classical framework, with a size 13, not 14 (we are talking alcohol, not dress size) body. With a lower pH (higher acidity), lower sugar levels, and, accordingly, lower alcohol, this is a ravishing beast, and it packs intensity without weight and deceptive degrees of charm and lasciviousness despite the impeccably calm exterior. It is a black hole wine. There is so much flavour and power from a finite and focused source. The tannins pull with direction and persistence from the outer extremities of the flavour, and they build a boundless expanse of flawless Cabernet. This happens when you harvest steadfast Mouton Cabernet in late September and decorate it with pristine Merlot. This is a masterful, tense and gripping wine. It does not hide chapters of flavour and intrigue in the folds of its robes, preferring to allow you to see everything on display, and the view is serene and sensational. How can two consecutive vintages taste so similar yet so cosmically and irresistibly different? Only at Mouton. Rating: 20+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (May 2024)
The blend is super-high in Cabernet Sauvignon, at 93% of the total, comparable to 2019 and 1986, with only Merlot making up the other 7%. It was picked from September 7th to the 30th, and it takes 40% of the crop. A beautiful if rather tightly wound nose here, slowly unfurling to reveal toasted berries, black olives, violets, crushed chalk and white peach, showing lots of intense, floral Cabernet purity, with any oak that might (must) be here taking a backseat. This allows the palate to flourish, showing a polished texture of dark fruits, currants, black olives and tar to rest over a finely knit and very coherent core of tannins, soft and tightly knit. The oak does slowly encroach on the palate, but it is appropriate, the structure also becoming more confident, revealing the dense integration of the tannins. And there is a fine persistence through the midpalate here, very sinewy and correct, with superb tannins, which ride out the finish and frame the length. A lovely young Mouton here, with great potential. The alcohol is 13.34% on analysis. Rating: 96-98 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2024)
Aromas of crème de cassis and dark berries mingled with pencil shaving, espresso roast and violets introduce the 2023 Mouton Rothschild, a medium to full-bodied, layered and fleshy wine with a creamy core of ripe but lively fruit, sweet tannins and an expansive finish. In terms of parcels, the 2023 is quite different in origins from the 2022, favoring plots that are better-drained rather than those resistant to drought. It's a blend of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Merlot, without either Cabernet Franc or Petit Verdot featuring in the blend, and it attained 13.3% alcohol. Rating: 94-96 William Kelley, The Wine Advocate (Apr 2024)
Château Mouton Rothschild
1855 classification (revised 1973) - Premier Grand Cru Classé The Ségur family, who owned at one time both Lafite and Latour, and had a hand briefly in Haut Brion, also owned Mouton for two years. They sold it to Joseph de Brane in 1720 and the estate was re-christened Brane-Mouton. Unfortunately, it was an estate without a château, the buildings having been sold seperately to Dominique Armailhacq and forming the nucleus of what is today Château d'Armailhac. Under the de Brane family, Mouton steadily gathered a reputation for its wine, with prices nearly equalling the best estates of the day. The de Branes sold Mouton in 1830 and the new owners failed to keep up the previous high standards. In 1853, Brane-Mouton became Mouton-Rothschild when Nathaniel Rothschild purchased the estate, and Mouton-Rothschild started its steady rise to become one of the world's iconic wines. Not iconic enough in 1855 to be granted Premier Grand Cru Classé - a slight described by Baron Phiippe as "the monstrous injustice". It was said that the recent sale of the estate to an Englishman prevented Mouton's recognition among the elite, the truth is probably more complicated. However, the "monstrous injustice" was corrected in 1973 with a unprecedented revision of the 1855 classification raising Château Mouton Rothschild to First Growth status. The Rothschild era at Mouton has seen continuous improvement. Astoundingly, it took until the latter half of the 19th Century for anyone to build an actual château at Mouton-Rothschild when Baron James built the Petit Mouton. An iconic estate deserves an iconic character, and he arrived in 1922 when Baron Philippe de Rothschild toopk over, assuming full ownership in 1947 when he bought out his brothers. A new chais was built and all of the wines were estate bottled, something not common at the time. Baron Philippe bought the neighbouring Château Mouton-Armailhacq in 1933, renaming it Château Mouton Baron Philippe (now Château d'Armailhac). From younger vines of his two estates, Baron Philippe created the popular Bordeaux brand Mouton Cadet. To celebrate the end of WWII, during which time Baron Philippe had had to escape from Vichy imprisonment to join the Free French forces in England, and the German military had taken over Château Mouton Rothschild, the 1945 vintage was bottled with a "V for Victory" label. Thereafter, a new label was designed every year by a contemporary artist, the labels becoming every bit as collectable as the wine. The vineyards sit on a raised mound known as a "motte", from which it is presumed the name Mouton derives. Mouton-Rothschild sits immediately to the south of Lafite. For red wines the 75ha of vineyards are planted to 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc with a little Petit Verdot. Wines are fermented in barrique and aged for 22 months before bottling. A second wine was introduced in 1993 - Le Petit Mouton with old-fashioned looking label that was designed by Jean Carlu who had designed the Mouton-Rothschild label in use before the War. A small amount of white wine - Aile d'Argent - is produced from mostly Sauvignon Blanc.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those on the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do contact our private client team via email or on 020 7018 0187.
Ordering
Prices are all in bond by the case size stated.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment to buy wines on release, as long as the release price is within the upper and lower price bands set by you on the pre-order form. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability but providing this firm commitment to buy effectively gives you priority and is a good idea for the most desirable wines.
Wines listed on the website can be ordered in the usual way via the website wishlist order form. You can also send orders directly to our private client team via email. Please note that, for the most sought-after wines, priority will be given to those who ordered the same wines last year and to those that have pre-ordered.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of email confirmation. Pre-orders are not binding if the release price is above your upper price band.
Invoices are all raised at the in bond price (excluding any duty and VAT) which will become payable at the prevailing rates when the wines arrive in the UK, should you wish to take duty paid delivery.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We regret we cannot accept credit cards for en primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (at LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £500. Orders below this total will be charged an administration and handling fee of £16.50+ VAT when invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery of 2023 Bordeaux bought en primeur is expected during 2026. Delivery dates may vary as wines are shipped from Bordeaux at different times.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes). Immediate payment of invoices is then required by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option but please note that confirmed orders are still binding even if the final invoice has not yet been issued.
Please specify on your wishlist order form where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. If this is to a third-party bonded warehouse, please specify the relevant account details. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue a second invoice for duty and VAT at the prevailing rate when the wines are available for delivery.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the format you want. While most of our listings are for 75cl bottles, we can source wines in any format that is offered by the Château. Please note that format requests cannot be changed once wines have been invoiced. Additional charges for special formats do apply and are as follows:-
- +£18.00 per case of 12 half-bottles
- +£30.00 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£7.50 per case of 3 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£11.00 per case of 6 Magnums
- +£45.00 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£60.00 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.
Storage Options:
Wines bought en primeur won't arrive in the UK until 2026. If you do not wish to take home delivery at that point, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our private client team for more information.