2008 Château Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
Harvest from October 2-15, with relatively low yields of 34hl/ha.
Starting to really come into its own, this is packed full of savoury blackberry, redcurrant and blueberry fruit with layers of liquorice, black chocolate, grilled cedar and a gentle lick of salinity through the finish. Excellent quality, and now starting to open - it was a baby at the 10 years on tasting but has inched open over the past three years.
Drink 2021 - 2040
Jane Anson, Decanter.com (February 2021)
The 2008 Mouton Rothschild has a more open bouquet than I expected: blackberry, pencil box, a whiff of the Gironde estuary, and a hint of pressed flowers with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sweet tannin, a little fleshier than the Château Margaux, and has a lovely saline finish that does not outstay its welcome. You could broach this now, though I would prefer to wait personally.
Drink 2018 - 2040
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (February 2018)
After the 2009 and 2010, the 2008 Mouton Rothschild comes across as a touch slender. Lavender, smoke, grilled herbs and liquorice add the closing shades of nuance in this delightful, mid-weight Mouton. In 2008, the blend was 83% Cabernet Sauvignon and 17% Merlot, harvested between October 2 and 15. Two thousand eight is remembered as a highly variable year. Overcast skies finally opened in mid-September, which allowed the growing season to conclude on a high note.
Drink 2020 - 2038
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (May 2016)
Ablend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon and 17% Merlot.
Saturated purple-ruby. Pure, deep blackberry, cigar box and graphite aromas, lifted by a delicate peppery note. Fresh, balanced, scented and quite suave, with pure mineral, plum and redcurrant flavours. The slowly building, very long finish features ultra-smooth tannins and compelling subtle minerality. This is yet another success for Mouton and a testament to the talents of Philippe Dhalluin, the estate manager who came over from Branaire-Ducru and has really turned things around at Mouton. Bordeaux insiders know not to miss out on the fantastic '06 Mouton, which I rate ahead of their '05.
Ian D'Agata, Vinous.com (May 2009)
From an underrated vintage of many Bordeaux wines, the 2008 Mouton-Rothschild reveals classic notes of cigar box, forest floor, underbrush, vanillin, camphor, chocolate, and abundant blackcurrant and blackberry fruit. Beautifully finessed tannins coat the mouth, giving the wine a savoury, expansive texture with no hard edges. It still has some tannin to shed, but this beauty is evolving quickly, displaying wonderful secondary nuances. It should age for 25+ years.
Drink 2016 - 2040
Robert M. Parker, Jr., Wine Advocate (December 2014)
Tasted blind
Particularly dark crimson. Quite dramatic. It’s well-balanced but a bit cool and lacking intensity – but it’s long and well-balanced. I want to drink this! Very fresh.
Drink 2017 - 2038
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (March 2018)
Aromas of roasted fruit plus hints of grilled meat and chocolate. Full body, firm and chewy tannins and bright acidity. Tangy and lively. It needs time still to come together to soften the tannins. A little hard.
Better in 2018
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (November 2015)
The 2008 Mouton Rothschild checks in as a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon and 17% Merlot brought up in mostly new barrels. Undeniably one of the top wines in the vintage, it offers a rare opulence and sexiness in its awesome bouquet of crème de cassis, Asian spices, chocolate, and crushed flowers. Deep, full-bodied, powerful, and still young, it fills the mouth with fruit, has sweet tannin, and a great finish. It's still ruby/plum-coloured, with no signs of evolution, but it is far from unapproachable and is drinking incredibly well today. It will keep for another two decades.
Drink 2019 - 2039
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (February 2019)
Deep, bright, ruby-red. Flamboyant aromas of cassis, roast coffee, chocolate, minerals and smoky oak. Large-scaled, concentrated, and sweet, it is so seamless today that it seems a bit monolithic. But this powerfully structured Mouton is almost too big for the mouth. It finishes with big, broad tannins and outstanding palate-staining persistence—one of the stars of the vintage.
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous.com (July 2011)
About this WINE
Château Mouton Rothschild
Classified as a First Growth, Château Mouton Rothschild has a long and storied history; wine has been made here since Roman times. The property spans 82 hectares of vines in Pauillac, planted with the classic varieties of the region, Cabernet Sauvignon being predominant.
The estate has been in the Baron Philippe de Rothschild family since 1853, but it wasn’t until the arrival of Baron Philippe de Rothschild in 1922 that its fortunes were transformed. Baron Philippe was a dynamic figure who revolutionised the estate and was the first to introduce château-bottling in 1924. He also introduced the concept of commissioning an artist to design each new vintage’s label. Some of the most notable contributors include Salvador Dalí, Henry Moore, Marc Chagall, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Anish Kapoor and Peter Doig.
His daughter Baroness Philippine continued to help raise the estate to new heights with numerous endeavours, including the inauguration of a new vat house in 2013. Today, her three children, Camille and Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, continue the efforts of their predecessors.
Following the retirement in 2020 of Philippe Dhalluin, the winemaking team is now headed up by Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy. With his team, he oversees over 83 hectares of vines, planted with Cabernet Sauvignon (78%), Merlot (18%), Cabernet Franc (3%), and Petit Verdot (1%). The average age of the vines is around 50 years.
Pauillac
Pauillac is the aristocrat of the Médoc boasting boasting 75 percent of the region’s First Growths and with Grand Cru Classés representing 84 percent of Pauillac's production.
For a small town, surrounded by so many familiar and regal names, Pauillac imparts a slightly seedy impression. There are no grand hotels or restaurants – with the honourable exception of the establishments owned by Jean-Michel Cazes – rather a small port and yacht harbour, and a dominant petrochemical plant.
Yet outside the town, , there is arguably the greatest concentration of fabulous vineyards throughout all Bordeaux, including three of the five First Growths. Bordering St Estèphe to the north and St Julien to the south, Pauillac has fine, deep gravel soils with important iron and marl deposits, and a subtle, softly-rolling landscape, cut by a series of small streams running into the Gironde. The vineyards are located on two gravel-rich plateaux, one to the northwest of the town of Pauillac and the other to the south, with the vines reaching a greater depth than anywhere else in the Médoc.
Pauillac's first growths each have their own unique characteristics; Lafite Rothschild, tucked in the northern part of Pauillac on the St Estèphe border, produces Pauillac's most aromatically complex and subtly-flavoured wine. Mouton Rothschild's vineyards lie on a well-drained gravel ridge and - with its high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon - can produce (in its best years) Pauillac's most decadently rich, fleshy and exotic wine.
Latour, arguably Bordeaux's most consistent First Growth, is located in southern Pauillac next to St Julien. Its soil is gravel-rich with superb drainage, and Latour's vines penetrate as far as five metres into the soil. It produces perhaps the most long-lived wines of the Médoc.
Recommended Châteaux
Ch. Lafite-Rothschild, Ch. Latour, Ch. Mouton-Rothschild, Ch. Pichon-Longueville Baron, Ch. Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Ch. Lynch-Bages, Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Ch, Pontet-Canet, Les Forts de Latour, Ch. Haut-Batailley, Ch. Batailley, Ch. Haut-Bages Libéral.
Cabernet Sauvignon blend
Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.
In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Tasting at Mouton is entertaining, with top-of-the-range golf buggies driven by chic ladies clad all in black brought in to ferry the trade from check-in to the hallowed halls of the Departure Lounge. The château seems to feel the need to impress, but there really is no need – the wine does this all on its own in 2008. With a dense, dark nose and juicy, brooding fruit, the 2008 Grand Vin is a wine the Baroness can be proud of.
Quite clearly one of our favourites of the First Growths this year, it has a lovely, savoury minerality that gives it elegance despite its power. This wine of gravitas has layers of dark fruit coating fine tannins with an almost glycerol-like texture. It is encouraging to see that Mouton has once again performed superbly in 2008; this is one of the vintage's top wines.
Berry Bros. & Rudd
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