Château Mouton Rothschild 2017

A brick house Cabernet, featuring a thick sheath of warm ganache and smoldering tobacco over a core of well-steeped black currant, black fig and blackberry compote flavors. Cuts a wide and deep trench as it moves along, with loamy, tannic grip for ballast. Retains a well-buried inner purity that should blossom as this mellows in the cellar. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2025 through 2040.

The hint of new wood still shows in the aroma of this wine. But on the palate, it has the richness and exuberance that comes with this great estate. Tannins show structure and intensity, bringing out the bold black fruits. Packed with freshness as well as structure, the wine will age well. Drink from 2024.

Graphite, black chocolate, pencil lead, blackberry and liquorice. This is serious, not holding back on its confident sense of power and depth. 100% new oak coming through as toasted grilled almond aromatics, this has no issue with settling in for the long term and will deliver over the next two to three decades. Easy to love.

Extremely perfumed Mouton with currants and crushed berries. Hints of roses and other flowers. Tight and extremely refined with ultra-fine tannins and cool yet rich currant character. The center palate offers sweet cherries and hints of oak. Lightly sweet and sour. Fresh, balsamic note. It firms up at the end. Solid. A blend of 90% cabernet sauvignon, 9% merlot and 1% petit verdot. Try after 2025.

90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot, harvested 7–29 September. Healthy, glowing deep crimson with soft cherry rim. Rocky/smoky cassis lift to the aroma. Fragrant with sober and non-exotic fruit. Serious. Super-fine texture, appears gentle but is very persistent, so fresh and effortless and yet intense and long. Refined and accessible but long term too. (JH)

The 2017 Mouton-Rothschild is lucid in colour, quite deep like the Le Petit Mouton. It has a pixelated bouquet with precise blackberry, raspberry and crushed stone aromas, the oak seamlessly integrated so that the aromatics have unerring focus. The palate is medium-bodied with a graphite-tinged entry that is actually reminiscent of Latour in many ways. This Mouton-Rothschild is all about finesse and poise, the acidity beautifully judged and with superb tension on the finish. One of the finest Left Bank wines of the vintage, there are few 2017s superior to this.

A candidate for wine of the vintage due to all of its waves of dark red and black fruits, currants, blackberries, mint, spice, and crushed rock nuances. The wine is full, rich, vibrant, and balanced with purity to the fruits and lift in the lengthy finish. Give it just a few more years and it will really start singing. Drink from 2026-2060.

The top 2017 Chateau Mouton Rothschild checks in as 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot that spent 18 months in new barrels. This rock star of a wine offers stunning notes of chocolately blackcurrants, toasted spice, and espresso roast, as well as loads of classic Pauillac lead pencil shavings and graphite nuances. It's another wine that starts out slowly yet builds incrementally on the palate with full-bodied richness, ripe, polished tannin, no hard edges, and a stunning sense of purity and elegance. Give bottles upwards of a decade and it will evolve for 30 years or more.

Kunz Fassprobe 18: (90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot) Concentrated, complex, fresh, mineral bouquet: cassis cream, mint, currants, cedar, graphite, and little hints of tobacco bar. Finely concentrated, layered, elegant palate with dense, refined fruit, concentrated, wide-ranging aromatics, plenty of fine tannin, a tightly knit structure, and a very long, full, sweet finish with many lingering notes.

Velvety, sweet, powerful, opulent bouquet with blackcurrant, toasted notes, coconut and nougat. Dense, velvety, elegant, full-bodied palate with a rich, sweet aromatic profile, creamy fruit, fine tannins and a very long, velvety, sweet finish. 19/20 2024 - 2048

A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Mouton Rothschild is deep garnet-purple in color. It is a tad shut down to start, soon opening to give up scents of redcurrant jelly, blackcurrant cordial, black plum preserves, and wild sage, plus touches of pencil lead, cracked black pepper, and charcuterie. Light to medium-bodied, the palate is vibrant and energetic, delivers firm, grainy tannins and plenty of freshness to the delicately layered red and black fruits, finishing long and mineral-laced.

Deep, almost opaque colour; powerful nose; oak still evident; full-bodied, with an intense texture and still-firm tannic structure. A Pauillac with great style and excellent ageing potential.

Mouton 2017 is made up of 90% Cabernet varieties. An intense, well-structured wine, with beautifully refined tannins and a delicate sweetness that envelops it perfectly. The balance is magnificent.

A complete, complex wine with a straightforward attack, juicy, elegant and refined, juicy again, with supple tannins, a lovely acidic backbone and a very long finish.

At Mouton, 2017 marks the return of Petit Verdot in the grand vin, from a small plot stemming from massal selection. The bouquet is spot-on and classic for a young Mouton, with oak ageing clearly on show, though never dominating. A fine symbiosis of spice, wood and fruity notes (blackcurrant and blackberry). On the palate, Mouton is dense, creamy and elegant, with suave tannins that are perfectly integrated. It truly embodies the idea of quiet strength, delivering with serenity and conviction. The acidity underpins the finish, bringing pedigree and freshness, while the tannins build in intensity across the palate to assert themselves clearly on the finish. Persistent finish. This is a great Mouton that fully holds its place and has nothing to be ashamed of alongside the 2016 and the 2018.

A dark, intense and beautiful color. The nose is particularly aromatic for its age—intense, fine, fruity, subtle and noble. It offers both black fruits and a hint of mint. Impeccably precise on the attack, dense yet wonderfully melting through the mid-palate, with a velvety body, the wine unfolds with great refinement overall, plenty of flavor, and a finish that is a touch more restrained than the first impression on the palate. It’s truly excellent. For the record, I retasted this bottle after it had been opened the next day and scored it 18 (96), whereas the day after, it rose again to 18.5 (97). Its ability to hold up in air is remarkable.