1 magnum per lot
Details
AN ARTISTIC VISION
It was in 1927 that Baron Philippe de Rothschild set forth on his quest to become one of the most recognisable lables on the planet. For it was in that year that the Baron commissioned a piece of art from the renouned architect and stage-designer Jacques Carlu for Mouton's 1924 vintage. It was a highly stylized nineteen-twentyish pattern of the Mouton ram's head in black and grey, with a pale brown formalized chai and the five arrows representing in the family's arms the five Rothschild brothers who set out from Frankfurt in Napoleon's time. It also marked the beginning of an era at Mouton where château bottling became the norm. The custom at Mouton of stating how many bottles the vintage produced and the numbering of each bottle began in 1934. Because of the controversial nature of château bottling and what it meant to the trade at the time and the soon to follow war the Baron rested this practice.
The return of the artist label could not have restarted with a more auspicious year. Anyone associated with the wine trade at the time new that 1945 had produced one of the greatest vintages ever harvested. To celebrate this year of victory and French liberation Baron Philippe sought out a Rome prize winning artist, Philippe Jullian, to design a label for this monumental claret. Jullian's design incorporated the tendrils of the vine in gold; the words 1945 Année de la Victoire and a gold letter 'V'. It was produced as a top strip, about one inch deep, of the label the label as a whole, and this is the pattern that has repeated ever since: a specially-commissioned, previously unpublished design by an outstanding contemporary artist. The rest of the label bearing in gold, as it had done in the years just before the war, the original Carlu design of 1927, on a shield, with mouton supporters, surmounted by the coronet of a baron of the Austrian Empire.
Property of a Gentleman
Recently removed from a cellar of impeccable storage conditions for fine wine
Château Mouton-Rothschild--Vintage 1945
Pauillac, 1er cru classé
Level: bottom neck; lead capsule cut for inspection, chateau branded cork, Reserve Nicholas neck label, two part Reserve du Chateau (R.C.) Victoire label, nicked upper label, torn lower main label
"A consistent 100-point wine (only because my point scale stops at that number), the 1945 Mouton-Rothschild is truly one of the immortal wines of the century. This wine is easily identifiable because of its remarkably exotic, over-ripe, sweet nose of black fruits, coffee, tobacco, mocha, and Asian spices. It is an extraordinarily dense, opulent, and rich wine, with layers of creamy fruit, behaving more like a 1947 Pomerol than a structured, powerful, and tannic 1945. The wine finishes with a 60+ second display of ripe fruit, extract, and sweet tannin. This remarkably youthful wine (only light amber at the edge) is mindboggling! Will it last another 50 years? Last tasted 8/97." Robert Parker, Bodeaux Book, 3rd Edition (1998)
1 magnum per lot
It was in 1927 that Baron Philippe de Rothschild set forth on his quest to become one of the most recognisable lables on the planet. For it was in that year that the Baron commissioned a piece of art from the renouned architect and stage-designer Jacques Carlu for Mouton's 1924 vintage. It was a highly stylized nineteen-twentyish pattern of the Mouton ram's head in black and grey, with a pale brown formalized chai and the five arrows representing in the family's arms the five Rothschild brothers who set out from Frankfurt in Napoleon's time. It also marked the beginning of an era at Mouton where château bottling became the norm. The custom at Mouton of stating how many bottles the vintage produced and the numbering of each bottle began in 1934. Because of the controversial nature of château bottling and what it meant to the trade at the time and the soon to follow war the Baron rested this practice.
The return of the artist label could not have restarted with a more auspicious year. Anyone associated with the wine trade at the time new that 1945 had produced one of the greatest vintages ever harvested. To celebrate this year of victory and French liberation Baron Philippe sought out a Rome prize winning artist, Philippe Jullian, to design a label for this monumental claret. Jullian's design incorporated the tendrils of the vine in gold; the words 1945 Année de la Victoire and a gold letter 'V'. It was produced as a top strip, about one inch deep, of the label the label as a whole, and this is the pattern that has repeated ever since: a specially-commissioned, previously unpublished design by an outstanding contemporary artist. The rest of the label bearing in gold, as it had done in the years just before the war, the original Carlu design of 1927, on a shield, with mouton supporters, surmounted by the coronet of a baron of the Austrian Empire.
Property of a Gentleman
Recently removed from a cellar of impeccable storage conditions for fine wine
Château Mouton-Rothschild--Vintage 1945
Pauillac, 1er cru classé
Level: bottom neck; lead capsule cut for inspection, chateau branded cork, Reserve Nicholas neck label, two part Reserve du Chateau (R.C.) Victoire label, nicked upper label, torn lower main label
"A consistent 100-point wine (only because my point scale stops at that number), the 1945 Mouton-Rothschild is truly one of the immortal wines of the century. This wine is easily identifiable because of its remarkably exotic, over-ripe, sweet nose of black fruits, coffee, tobacco, mocha, and Asian spices. It is an extraordinarily dense, opulent, and rich wine, with layers of creamy fruit, behaving more like a 1947 Pomerol than a structured, powerful, and tannic 1945. The wine finishes with a 60+ second display of ripe fruit, extract, and sweet tannin. This remarkably youthful wine (only light amber at the edge) is mindboggling! Will it last another 50 years? Last tasted 8/97." Robert Parker, Bodeaux Book, 3rd Edition (1998)
1 magnum per lot