Chateau Mouton Rothschild Red Dry Wine 2018 - Pauillac Premier Grand Cru Classe

Tasting notes

The wine has an intense, deep black colour.

The nose reveals intense ripe fruit aromas and nutmeg notes, set off by touches of mint.

The ample, full and refined attack opens on blackberry and cherry flavours lifted by a hint of spice. Generous, creamy and well-rounded tannins underpin candied flavours, giving an overall impression of succulence.

Great balance between the fruit and the tannins paves the way for a highly refined and exceptionally long finish.

Harvest : From 10 September to 3 October

Climatic conditions

The first half of 2018 was marked by heavy rainfall and severe hailstorms during the winter, followed by a much milder spring.

Cool temperatures in March were followed by a warm spell in April which favoured vegetation growth and brought the vines into flower slightly earlier than usual. This trend was confirmed from June onwards as hot and sunny weather advanced the vine cycle by 5 days in relation to the average.

In July, high humidity coupled with the summer heat made it difficult to keep the vines healthy, but constant care from our growers ensured that all the qualities of the vineyard were preserved. Fortunately, hot and dry weather then set in for three months, with temperatures sometimes reaching more than 30°C, ending the mildew attacks.

Although conditions in the first half of the year did not herald a great harvest, the record-breaking temperatures, low rainfall and relative drought that followed in the summer months rectified the situation. The grapes were small but outstandingly rich in sugar and tannins.

The advance in the vine cycle and the hot, dry summer meant that the harvest began in late August for the white grapes and early September for the red grapes.

At Château Mouton-Rothschild, picking started with the Aile d’Argent parcels from 30 August to 5 September and continued with the red grapes from 10 September to 3 October.

The wines are intensely coloured and have excellent tannic structures. They are remarkably dense and smooth, with a rare concentration of aroma and flavour. Yields were smaller because of the drought, but the vintage can already be reckoned one of our great successes.

Illustration of the label

XU BING

The owners of Château Mouton Rothschild, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, Camille Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, commissioned the label for the 2018 vintage from the Chinese artist and writer Xu Bing (b. 1955).

The artwork for the 2018 label reflects the artist’s work on the illusory splendour of appearances as manifested by his Square Word Calligraphy, which resembles traditional Chinese characters but is actually composed of the letters of the Latin alphabet. Xu Bing expresses his linguistic creativity in the invention of a unique script in which the words are absorbed into the codes of traditional Chinese ideography.

In this coalescence of cultures, the label for the 2018 vintage features the two words “Mouton Rothschild”.