De wijngaarden van Château Mouton Rothschild zijn gelegen ten noordwesten van Bordeaux, aan de rand de Medoc. De Medoc-wijngaard, die dateert uit de Romeinse tijd, beslaat nu ongeveer 16.500 hectare. De wijnstokken worden geplant op een smalle strook land van 80 km lang en 5 tot 10 km breed, dicht bij de rivier, die de grond in de diepte irrigeert en temperatuurverschillen matigt. Grenzend aan de noordelijke grens van het bos van Les Landes profiteert de Medoc van de zachtheid van het zeeklimaat en wordt tegelijkertijd beschermd tegen de excessen.

Historie

In 1853 koopt Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild het landgoed Château Brane-Mouton op een veiling omdat hij zijn eigen wijn wil serveren aan zijn prestigieuze gasten. Het landgoed was gelegen in Pauillac, in het hart van de Médoc, en zou voortaan ook zijn naam dragen: Château Mouton Rothschild.

In 1922 komt het landgoed in handen van Baron Philippe de Rothschild, de achterkleinzoon van Baron Nathaniel. 2 jaar later dringt hij erop aan dat alle wijn, die tot dan toe in tonnen werd geleverd aan wijnhandelaren in Bordeaux, in het vervolg in het kasteel werden gebotteld. Deze beslissing betekende dat er meer opslagruimte nodig was. Daarom werd de spectaculaire 100-meter lange Grand Chai (Great Barrel Hall), ontworpen door de architect Charles Siclis, in 1926 gebouwd. In 1962 werd er zelfs een museum geopend op het landgoed.

Na een lang gevecht door Baron Philippe behaalt Château Mouton Rothschild in 1973 eindelijk de fel begeerde status van Premier Cru Classé waarvan ze op oneerlijke wijze werden beroofd bij de classificatie van 1855. Na een decreet ondertekend door Jacques Chirac, toenmalig minister van Landbouw werd het dus officieel bevestigd.

De dochter van Philippe, Barones Philippine de Rothschild, heeft het landgoed van haar vader overgenomen en door de jaren heen dit prachtige familiebedrijf steeds verder gemoderniseerd. Haar uitmuntende toewijding en werkwijze heeft zij overgedragen aan haar 3 kinderen, Camille Sereys de Rothschild, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild en Julien de Beaumarchais die met dezelfde ambitie de landgoederen verder besturen.

PARKER (86)

The 1991 exhibits a moderately dark ruby/purple color, as well as a promising and complex nose of such classic Pauillac aromas as lead pencil, roasted nuts, and ripe cassis. The initial richness is quickly obliterated by frightful levels of tannin, and a tough, hard finish. Although there is an interesting and alluring dimension to this wine, the tannin level is excessively high and the wine is likely to dry out after 10-15 years of cellaring. Readers who admire austere, fruitless wines will rate it higher.

WINESPECTATOR / JAMES SUCKLING (89)

vintage with tobacco, black currant and berry aromas and flavors, medium body and a long flavorful, silky finish.

OVERIGE (17)

Rene Gabriel rates this wine 17/20 points.

SETSUKO

Setsuko was born in Japan in 1942 and was the daughter of an ancient Samurai family. She received a Western education, but also learned the traditional arts of her native country : music, poetry and shimai dancing.

In Tokyo in 1962 she met Balthus, painter of the Turkish Room and many other major works, and very soon afterwards went to join him in Rome, where he was President of the Villa Medici. It was there, after their marriage, that they entertained all the great writers, painters and film-makers of the day. They also bought the mediaeval castle of Monte Calvello in the countryside outside Rome. In furnishing it, she managed to create a happy marriage of two styles, the old stonework of the castle harmonising perfectly with the Japanese furniture and decor of her childhood.

Since 1977 they have lived in Switzerland, creating a new environment for her work in the Grand Chalet at Rossinière, another place of pure enchantment, where Setsuko’s talent finally found its fullest expression. The hostess and decorator became a painter.
Her first patron was her daughter Harumi. For her she drew stories in pictures, created gleaming marionettes, giving new life and colour, not only to her familiar toy animals, but also to the princesses in her fairy stories.

For Balthus she made patchwork cushions, patterned with the silhouettes of strange, oddly human-looking cats.
She is essentially a painter of still-lives, and yet everything in them seems to have a life and movement of its own. Setsuko reinvents each object line by line, transforming it with glowing colour and lustre, becoming in a sense its maker a second time, endowing every-day things with grace and harmony in the tradition of Japanese painting.

The keenness of her eye, the purity of her line, the detail of her drawing, the lack of shadow and near-absence of perspective all evoke a universe of sleek serenity, a world apart, secure in their own space, their own time.

For the Mouton Rothschild 1991 label, Setsuko retells in her own way the timeless story of wine : the brunch of grapes that once was blossom and became fruit, full as an ear of wheat at harvest time ; then, in the end, the long-awaited denouement, the wine in the decanter and the pleasure in drinking it.