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Château Mouton Rothschild sits in Pauillac, on the left bank of the Gironde, and has belonged to the Rothschild family since 1853. When France fell in 1940, the estate was in a precarious position. Its owner, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, was Jewish; the château was requisitioned and used by the occupying forces, and the baron himself left France, later serving with the Free French. His wife, Élisabeth, was arrested and died in the Ravensbrück camp in 1945.
Bordeaux's great cellars were an obvious target, and across the region producers hid their best vintages behind hastily built walls, re-labelled grand bottles as table wine, and even planted spiders in sealed-off cellars so that dusty cobwebs would make a new wall look old. Mouton's cellar team protected what they could in the same way, and much of the estate's older stock survived the occupation.
The baron returned in 1945 and marked the end of the war with a now-famous label: the 1945 vintage carries a large "V" for victory, drawn by the artist Philippe Jullian, with the words Année de la Victoire. It was the first in the series of artist-designed labels that Mouton has commissioned every year since, from Miró and Picasso to Lucian Freud and Jeff Koons. In 1973 Mouton was promoted to Premier Cru, the only change ever made to the 1855 classification, which the baron celebrated with the motto "Premier je suis, second je fus, Mouton ne change."
The 1945 Mouton is one of the most sought-after wines ever made, and the wartime story is part of why. For most of us, a more recent vintage is the way to taste the estate: Mouton's blend is Cabernet Sauvignon-led, with a rich, cassis-and-cedar style that drinks well after ten to fifteen years in bottle. Serve it at 16–18°C, decant for an hour, and pair it with roast lamb or beef.
Browse our Bordeaux collection for Mouton Rothschild and its Pauillac neighbours, or see our fine wine over £100 for other first growths and grands crus. In London we deliver in 30–45 minutes, 24 hours a day; elsewhere in mainland UK, order by 4pm for next-day delivery. Every bottle can be sent as a gift with a free personalised note, and our Burgundy vs Bordeaux guide explains what to expect from each.
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