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  • Country ranking ?

    439
  • Producer ranking ?

    17
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    now to 2035
  • Food Pairing

    Porcini Mushroom Risotto with Gorgonzola Cheese

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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If the wine producers from different regions were asked to name the best vintages from their winemaking history, the most would name 1947 as one of the great ones. If we then compared them together there would be most likely only one vintage that the most if not every producer had named on list – 1947. 

The vintage 1947 was a magical vintage. It remains in the history as one of the only vintages that all well-established quality wine regions in the world were blessed with superb weather conditions. The heat waves  were experienced all around the world and for instance the whole Europe was bating under scorching sun and experiencing a heat wave  during the summer. This resulted very concentrated and highly ripe grapes. The producers had challenges to handle the very ripe grapes with high sugar levels as there was a constant risk of bacterial contamination in less hygenic cellars that had no artifical cooling systems. As there was no technology to use, many invoked on huge blocks of ice to cool the room temperautre down and even putting ice in their fermentation tanks. 

This vintage has proven to yield very long lasting wines from all around the world. The wines are marked with sweet and ripe fruit character and warming alcohol. Due to the poorly hygenic winemaking facilities, many of the wines show volatile characters. Some might find this as a fault, but for many mature wine lovers this feature is even a preferred character. However, when buying the wines from this vintage, one should be aware that there is high level of bottle variations and the risk of having highly volatile wines is remarkably high. 

Bordeaux

This year produced some of the greatest wines ever made in Bordeaux. The Right Bank was the most succesful. Château Cheval Blanc and Pétrus produced not only the best wines of the vintage but the best wines of the wineries from all times. The Left Bank did also well, but was not at the level of the Right Bank. Château Margaux represents one of the best wines from Left Bank. White dry Bordeauxs are outstanding quality as well as Sauternes which produced very intense and lusciously sweet wines with less botrytised character. 

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The Story

Château Mouton Rothschild A Premier Cru Classé in 1973, Château Mouton Rothschild, owned by Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, consists of 205 acres of vines near Pauillac, in the Médoc, North West of the city of Bordeaux. This Premier Cru benefits from exceptionally good natural conditions, both in the quality of the soil, the position of its vines and their exposure to the sun. It is regarded today as one of the world's greatest wine. 


The name Mouton is said to be derived from the word „Motte“ meaning mound or elevation of the ground. It was bought in 1853 by Philippe de Rothschilds great-grand father it was in a fairly bad shape and when the classification of 1855 was set up it was not deemed to be good enough to be qualified as a first growth but put in first place amongst the second growths. An injustice it took Philippe de Rothschild until 1973 to rectify. 1920s Philippe de Rothschild called together the owners of Haut Brion, Latour, Lafite, Margaux and Yquem to talk about the idea of bottling and marketing their wines on their own.

The first vintage to be bottled exclusivly at the château was the 1924 vintage. To commemorate this, the cubistic painter Carlu was asked to design the label, yet another revolutionary idea in this most conservative of surroundings. The idea of an artist designing the labels was dropped until 1945 when Philippe Jullian was asked to design a label commemorating the victory over nazi Germany. Since then works of such famous artists as Picasso, Miró, Dali, Chagall and personalities like John Huston and Prince Charles have been used for the labels.


In 1988, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, who had already been associated with her father's work for some time, succeeded her father. She has in turn become the guarantor of the quality of an illustrious wine whose motto proudly proclaims : "Premier je suis, second je fus, Mouton ne change". First I am, second I was, I Mouton do not change

Vineyard soil: very deep gravel on a limestone base Production area: 82.5 ha Grape varieties: 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot Average age of vines: 48 years Harvest method: hand picked. The grapes from the younger vines are harvested first and vinified separately.

Winemaking: Before destemming, the grapes are hand-sorted then selected one by one. Vinification depends on each vintage and the characteristics of each vat. All the relevant parameters, such as temperature, pumping over, aeration, vatting time and running off, are monitored by the technical manager, the cellar-master and the laboratory.
Ageing: 19 to 22 months in oak barrels (almost all new, the percentage varying according to the vintage)
 

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Wine Information

PORTRAIT OF JEAN MARAIS / The work of Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) has belonged for a long time to the highest canon of French culture; by 1955, he had been admitted to the Académie Française. He was an artistic outsider of genius, with a great desire to create beauty on all levels. As an improvisational artist, author of poetry, novels and plays, a filmmaker and draughtsman, he set standards in many genres. This darling of the Parisian art scene found his inspiration particularly in Greek and Roman mythology. As a publicist, Cocteau contributed greatly to the comprehension of modern art and contemporary painting with his essays and articles about his artist friends, such as Picasso, de Chirico and Modigliani. He also made a name for himself as a surrealist. Regardless of whether he was producing swiftly executed sketches or extravagant illustrations, Cocteau dazzled with his apparently endless creativity and great playfulness. On the label for the 1947 Mouton, Cocteau portrayed Jean Marais, a long-time friend of his, who was also a visual artist and an actor, in a mythological pose with a bunch of grapes and a cornucopia.


 

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Vintage 1947

Where the 1945 represents sophistication, nuance and classic character, the 1947 stands for richness, robustness and succulence. Spring was delayed that year, which meant a late start to the growing season. The summer warmed up towards fall and the abundant sunshine caused the grapes to ripen very quickly. Daytime temperatures ranged between 35 and 38°C. The crop was finally harvested in almost tropical conditions, when a storm ravaged Bordeaux on September 19 and 20.

Fortunately, a large percentage of the grapes had already been harvested. The grapes were unusually hot during picking and the volatile acids caused problems for many vineyards during fermentation. The end result was an absolutely extraordinary vintage, which turned out magnificent, particularly on the Right Bank and in Sauternes. Even young, these reds were exceptionally drinkable. Their life cycle, on the other hand, has been surprisingly varied. The wines of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion proved superior to the Médocs and Graves. The supreme wine of this vintage is most certainly Château Cheval Blanc, which, in terms of mouthfeel, is perhaps the greatest wine of the entire 20th century. Why the White Horse was so successful that year is a mystery. Unlike what happened to so many others, the White Horse did not suffer from an excess of volatile acids.

 

Everything from vineyard microclimate to production have been offered as explanations. Because the weather was unusually warm, there were no humid morning mists in the vineyards, limiting conditions for the formation of natural yeasts that increase volatility. The heat also killed the natural yeasts and the amount was generally lower than normal. Fermentation was carried out in small concrete tanks, which provided effective insulation against external heat and maintained sufficiently low temperatures, thus preventing the formation of volatile acids. Another very interesting aspect of the production of Cheval Blanc was its maturation for 5 to 10 years in old barrels; This was because new oak barrels were not available after the depression and war years. In all its glory, the 1947 Cheval Blanc caricatures modern winemaking as an incredible example of the heights that can be reached without the aid of technology. In addition to the Cheval, the Pétrus and the Lafleur are vintage gems.

 

 

 

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Average Bottle Price

2016 2015 2012 2010 2005 2000 1995
3 980€ -18.4% 4 877€ +62.7% 2 998€ +3.7% 2 892€ +70.8% 1 693€ +13.6% 1 490€ +174.4% 543€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Tasting note

color

Deep

ending

Long, Gentle and Round

flavors

Vanilla, Blackcurrant, Chocolate and Dried-fruit

nose

Intense and Ripe

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Warming, Concentrated, Well-structured, Good texture, Developing, Full-bodied, Ripe, Rich, Fruity, Sweet and Sweet tannins

Verdict

Transparent and Exotic

Written Notes

1947 magnum showed why. I had an incredible bottle of this wine two weeks prior in Los Angeles, and this magnum was a step up from that. It was amazing; razor sharp, chunky, meaty and sweet with that minty edge and 200mph

  • 99p
1947 was an amazingly good vintage of very ripe, full and age-worthy wines. This Mouton looked like new. Cork and capsule in fair condition. A deep, very impressive colour, even more brilliant than the 1949 Mouton. Fabulous ripe, rich fruit, sweet vanilla and open nose. On the palate it was well balanced, very concentrated, not as complex as hoped, but had beautiful smoothness and structure. Soft tannins and sweet ripe fruit created a deliciously flirtatious taste experience, reflecting balance and quality in the form of a long aftertaste. Held in the glass for an hour and a half without drying up. A wine that has certainly survived the test of time.
  • 94p

One of the sweetest Mouton vintages I have ever tasted - flavours of dried prune and dried fig with hint of leather and spice. A generous, opulent Mouton with an impressive flavour profile and plenty of life at 67 years of age. Bravo!

  • 96p
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Information

Origin

Pauillac, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

Be Cautious

Glass time

1h

Drinking temperature

17

Inside Information

Parker 98 points / I have never had anything but extraordinary, decadent, fabulously rich, concentrated bottles of the 1947 Mouton-Rothschild. The exotic, ostentatious bouquet of ginger, mint, coffee, cedar, and gobs of cassis fruit is followed by a syrupy, viscously-textured, thick, juicy Mouton that is bursting with fruit. Although drinkable since I first tasted it over a decade ago, it exhibits no signs of fruit loss or color deterioration. It is one of the most exotic and opulent Mouton-Rothschilds I have ever tasted.

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