Château Mouton Rothschild 2000

Rounded, fleshy and a bit extracted in feel, with dark plum, blackberry and fig jam flavors that flirt with a pruny edge, picking up lots of warm mocha, singed vanilla bean and ganache notes through the finish. This relies more on easy opulence than on depth or purity on the end. -- Blind 2000 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2015). Drink now through 2023. 21,215 cases made.

With its distinctive antique bottle and gold etched label dominated by a sheep, this is definitely a move away from classic Bordeaux bottling. It is good that the wine can support the presentation. The fruit is so ripe, it almost tastes of raisins, but that sweetness is finely balanced by the dry tannins and concentrated texture. To finish, there are exotic spices, giving an almost oriental character to the long aftertaste.

A little more open than the other four Firsts in the vintage, with undergrowth, baked earth and gentle spice alongside the truffles, smoked caramel, spice and bilberry fruits. It shows plenty of the trademark Mouton generosity and ripe tannic structure and is lusciously textured. This came in at 80% 1st wine. It wasn't until Philippe Dhalluin arrived a few years later that production for the 1st wine would be lowered, with significantly more Petit Mouton being made (Lafite and Latour both closer to 50% 1st wine for similar sized estates). That's not to say that you won't be thrilled to open and drink this wine, and it will undoubtedly show that same stubborn unwillingness to fade away that the First Growths all share. 100% new oak.

The nose is very intense, super-ripe and rich, verging on jammy. Notes of leather, spices and prunes. Full-bodied, soft and beautiful with ripe tannins and a long finish. This is soft and yummy right now. Drink or hold.

The 2000 Mouton-Rothschild is a vintage that famously came in an eye-catching gold-embossed bottle, though I was rather ambivalent about its quality. Now just over two decades old, it has a focused bouquet of blackberry, mint and tobacco/black truffle scents, demonstrating fine intensity if not the show-stopping complexity one might expect from a First Growth in 2000. The palate is medium-bodied, juicy and ripe, with rounded tannins and moderate acidity, but I don’t find it complex, and it doesn’t really articulate the DNA of Mouton-Rothschild or its terroir. This becomes quite feral and just a little acetic with aeration.

Reserved in character, at close to 24 years old, the wine doesn’t offer the flamboyant character the best vintages of Mouton provides. Instead, you find a more austere, classic rendition of Pauillac with a focus on its bright currant, cedar, cigar wrapper and spicy profile. Concentrated and firm on the palate, 1-2 hours of air will help the wine in your glass. Drink from 2023-2055. .

Yes, from the vintage of that great, symbolically charged turn of the millennium. I mention it also because years like this are particularly expensive, even today. Dense ruby color, deep, dark core with a lighter rim. A complex bouquet of bourbon vanilla, sweet tobacco, juicy blueberries and blackberries, wonderfully concentrated and succulent, beautifully interwoven. On the palate, a juicy, elegant, modern-style Mouton, yet here very distinguished and well-proportioned, hugely enticing with a noble cloak of tannins: a true Mouton lady of great finesse, impressive without ever being showy.

Where does this Mouton belong? At the Château they draw parallels with the 1986 vintage. In terms of power and the richness of both extract and tannins, it also shows traits of Mouton 1982! Yet it comes with a far more dramatic concentration. Hopefully it will proclaim its own identity and, during bottle ageing, play fewer tricks than other Mouton vintages that were often praised early on and then constantly revised—such as 1989, 1990 and the uncompromising 1995, currently bitter and tightly compressed. One thing is certain: this Mouton 2000 is among the best Moutons in perhaps a hundred years, and therefore also among the absolute top wines of the 2000 vintage, which in any case mostly come from the left bank of the Gironde. As with the neighbours Cos and Lafite, Cabernet Franc was also omitted from the blend here. Mouton 2000 is a mix of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot. Total production was slightly lower due to the low yield of just 39 hl/ha and the declassification of the Cabernet Franc. Normally about 300,000 bottles are produced at Mouton. In 2000 it was around 280,000 bottles. 01: Barrel sample (20/20): Deep, dense garnet with black and violet reflections, impenetrable depth. A smoky bouquet of cassis, blackberries and blueberries, liquorice, rosewood and ebony. Beneath that already binding malt notes, toasted sesame, black olives and those stunning eucalyptus, mint and chopped candied orange notes that can still be found today in the legendary 1959 Mouton. The nose is compact, concentrated, with a terroir and fruit intensity never before encountered in a barrel sample. The olfactory experience culminates on the palate in perfect form: again blue-berry and even more black-berry tones, flesh in abundance; the tannins are far juicier and richer than in recent years’ often somewhat disappointing wines from this estate; mouth-coating astringency fitted out with a powerful, aromatic finish that reverberates for minutes. Second contact in October 2001: cassis bouquet in pure culture, plus noble woods, coffee and vanilla pods; essentially not an excess of concentration, but a Cabernet perfume like no other. Creamy palate, mint, chocolate, caramel, lots of prunes; currently rather sexy and already capable of seducing from the barrel—explaining my empty spittoon (20/20). 03: Extremely deep garnet-purple. Warm, dark-berried bouquet; plums, cassis and tar notes, very profound and gentle on the attack, already very present. On the palate soft, velvety, with chocolatey extract; fairly distinct, even gently dominant coffee-roast notes; floral Cabernet radiance. Unfortunately, at the moment the finish shows a slightly disturbing bitterness (press wine or reduction?) that dominates the otherwise powerful frame and scales down the fruit expression. It currently tastes far more restrained than shortly before bottling. One senses the immense “wine of the century” potential, but compared with other 2000 first growths it is not on the winning side right now. And if it is “only” 19/20 points from me at the moment, that is a perfectly explainable, natural evolution. Even elite 100-metre sprinters don’t run under 10 seconds every day (19/20). 05: Drunk in December during a larger bottle battle in the second third at Clos d’Agon in Spain with a few friends. The wine came across as pretty “wicked”. Open, sweet, supple, with fine, rich tannins. It shows certain Merlot ambitions and thus a Pomerol-like sweetness, like the ’70 back then. Unfortunately I am increasingly sure this is a beautiful Mouton, but not one that is currently worth this enormous price. In terms of actual drinking maturity, I’d rather buy the 2002 for far less money (19/20). 08: A magnum on Irene Berwert’s birthday. You don’t take notes then—you just drink. 09: Very dark wine-red with lilac and black reflections. Fine cassis and blackberry bouquet with perfumed woods, delicately fragrant with many layers and surprisingly accessible at the moment; aromatically it shows a certain Napa–Harlan affinity. On the palate, a mouthful of Pauillac with plenty of finesse and expansive fruit components—delicate and powerful at the same time. You taste the wine and then swallow the whole serving without restraint—without the slightest hint of a guilty conscience (19/20). 10: Since its birth—since the barrel sample in March 2001—I had the opportunity every year to smell Mouton 2000 at least once and follow its evolution. It is a very delicate, sweet Mouton that certainly belongs among the very great Mouton vintages, yet it lacks a tiny touch of genius and power to reach the maximum score. Label collectors are annoyed because it has no label, only a very elegant bottle engraving. Other first-growth owners are annoyed because—since this vintage—it has been bottled in a significantly larger, more luxurious and also heavier bottle, to stand out from the competition, at least visually. And wine lovers are annoyed because it—and it is not alone—costs a lot of money. “Here we go again,” I thought when I first stood in the cellar of the village butcher Werner Limacher in Hünenberg. In the middle, provocatively showing off, several sealed cases of Mouton-Rothschild stacked high, and all around them good but rather ‘nice’ bottles. I hate Mouton collectors. Collecting there very often means… letting them rot. My friends also brought a few wines from their cellar for lunch and the subsequent jass. But at some point our supply ran low and the idea came up that we could now heave such a heavy case of Château Mouton Rothschild 2000 out of the cellar and, with a coffee teaspoon (there was no screwdriver nearby…), try to pry open the lid so we could drink a bottle together. I underlined this intention by explaining to Werner that, for professional reasons, I really had to taste Mouton 2000 once a year for a work-related tasting note… No further persuasion was needed and a minute later the deep dark red sparkled in an elegant decanter. And a happy moment later I was the proud owner of a good decilitre of “Schäfliwein” in my Gabriel Test glass, which will come onto the market before this summer. I can’t remember exactly whether it was due to the incredible glass or the incredible Mouton at the moment. In any case, it was a wonderful experience with good friends in this woody, cosy carnotzet. For a few minutes, small white sausages, Wienerli and spicy mini pork sausages steamed on the table. And because there were so many wonderful little sausages, a second bottle had to be sacrificed. Thanks, Werner! 11: Bernd Neuhaus absolutely wanted to open a jeroboam, so 14 expectant wine friends sat at the Tobler table in Hochdorf with other bottles they had brought. In terms of taste, this is a more concentrated and finer variant of Mouton 1995. This experience once again felt like 20/20, and I think this Mouton will achieve that with every new encounter in 10 years (19/20). 15: Rich garnet, fine rim, little development. The bouquet takes off immediately, showing the typical, almost overly sweet Mouton glutamate notes, then light noble woods, caramel, prunes. The Cabernets hint at a somewhat vulgar evolutionary phase at the moment; fortunately everything is blended with chocolate and toasted nuts. On the palate it is dense, creamy, with lots of untamed sweetness; the tannins still seem a little crumbly. From my perspective it is closing again. So it’s worth waiting a few years (19/20). 17: Compared on the Frutt with various other 2000s. It is a great wine, but against Haut-Brion and especially Latour it comes off slightly worse. What it lacks in greatness it almost makes up for with its incredible sweetness. It is now a bit more accessible than two years ago. 17: Quite dark wine-red. Dark-berry, subtly milky bouquet, blackberries and cassis, broadly fanning out, dark noble woods, lots of coffee-roast notes; it comes across as noble and at the same time somewhat arrogant. Rich palate, black-chocolate bitterness, aromatic finish with many black aromatic contours. A finely firm note remains on the tongue. Given the constellation, one can assume it is currently quite closed. There’s more to come. Much more! The persistent finish is particularly impressive (19/20). 20: For a 20-year-old First Growth from a great year, it already shows quite a few maturity notes. Medium wine-red with a first, brick-red shimmer at the rim. The nose starts from the very first second: rosehip jam, noble woods, Dominican cigars, cedarwood, plum compote and endless roast notes. A beguiling aromatic play where everything is already there. Does this enormous force suggest that this Mouton—at least aromatically—is already at full maturity? On the second nose you find fine greenish Cabernet traces that add spice and depth. On the palate it feels like a Pauillac wine crème. It seems even fuller to me than the 1982 was in its youth. By the way, one finds quite a few parallels with the latter. In the finish it still leaves tannins on the tongue, indicating further ageing potential—without wanting to diminish current enjoyment. As a taster you swing back and forth in analysis between bluff, greatness and drug (19/20).

A deep, concentrated, complex and fresh bouquet, with blackcurrant, delicate toasted notes, eucalyptus, After Eigth. A concentrated, multi-layered, powerful yet elegant palate with dense, dark aromatics, a concentrated structure, plenty of fine tannins, and a very long, imposing finish. 20/20 2024 - 2060

Incredibly luscious, with a velvety texture that delivers wonderfully sensuous tactile sensations, and phenomenal length.

Opulent oak, beautifully spicy and toasty in character, with very exotic aromas… A wine in the pure tradition of the Mouton style. While it doesn’t have the same freshness of fruit as its peers, it nevertheless shows a clear pursuit of ripeness and an imposing richness on the finish, in the voluptuous spirit of the estate’s great vintages. Decanted for 30 minutes.

Logo on the cork: K Dark colour, medium intensity and showing some evolution. An intense, fruity, creamy and seductive nose. A lovely, ample attack on the palate, then the wine becomes full-bodied and rich, with volume through the mid-palate, before delivering power on the finish. It ends on a very savoury note, with great length and a noble texture. Spectacular expression.

A ripe, gorgeous wine, the 2000 Château Mouton Rothschild is based on 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot that was raised in 85% new French oak. Blackcurrants, smoky tobacco, chocolate, and graphite all emerge on the nose, and on the palate, it's full-bodied, with a deep, layered mid-palate, ripe, velvety tannins, and a great finish. The volume, richness, and depth here are all classic Mouton, yet it nevertheless stays in the focused, more structured style of the vintage. It's just now hitting its prime drinking window and will cruise for another 40-50 years. Drink 2026-2076.