Royal Commonwealth Society Wine Club 4th Anniversary Dinner
30th September 1976
This Dinner was to celebrate the promotion of Chateau Mouton Rothschild as a Premier Cru - the only Chateau to have achieved a change to the 1855 classification.
The Menu used was planned by Philip Burch (the Head Chef at The Fox Inn, Stourton, West Midlands a then work colleague) for the Mouton Cadet Midlands Menu Competition 1975
MENU
Paupiettes de Sole Bergerie
Chateau Paradis - Casseuil 1973 Entre deux Mers, Sec
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Supreme de Pintade Doria Rothschild
Barquettes d'Epinards
Pommes Roti
Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1968 Premier Cru Pauillac
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Fromage Bodelais
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Torte Vin Blanc Mouton
Chateau Doisy Daene 1970, Deuxieme Cru Sauternes
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Cafe
Fonseca 1960 - Hine V.S.O.P
Chateau Mouton-Rothschild and the Medoc Classification
"Premier ne puis, Second ne daigne Mouton suis......"
Chateau Mouton was bought in 1853 by Nathaniel Rothschild son of Nathan of London one of the five brothers who set out from Frankfurt in Napoleon's time to conquer the banking world of Europe. The same year Napoleon III set up an Imperial Commission to plan the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris. They invited the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce to display the wines of the Gironde in order of merit. On 18th April 1855 two weeks before the Exhibition opened a list drawn up by the Wine brokers of Bordeaux was presented to the Emperor. The brokers faced with the classification of over 2000 Gironde vineyards, chose to list only the best - 64 Red wines from Medoc and one from Graves and White Wines Sauternes. This list was not conjured out of thin air but was a codification of the prices paid on the Bordeaux market for over 100 years previously - the people that pay shall call the tune. But unhappily just before Nathaniel bought
Mouton it had been allowed by its previous owner to run down and although after only one years ownership Nathaniel had obtained the same prices as Latour and Lafite the brokers downgraded Mouton to the top of the Second growths. Had the brokers produced their list a few years later it is probable that they would have put Mouton with its peers - Lafite, Margaux, Latour and Haut Brion.
The present Baron Phillipe, took over mouton as a boy of twenty in 1922 and devised the motto above. He then accepted the immutability of the 1855 classification even thought all the believed it to have been unfair. Since then Baron Phillipe by his dedication to viticulture and Mouton acquired for both a pre-eminence which had to be acknowledged. So, on 22nd June 1973. France's Minister of Agriculture confirmed that henceforth Mouton would become a Premier Grand Cru Classe du Medoc.
Now for the wine itself: Hugh Johnson has described the First growths of Pauillac as follows: "I should say that Lafite is the most beautiful. Latour the most stylish and Mouton-Rothschild the most tremendous" Certainly Mouton has more often than not in recent years achieved higher prices than the other first growths. The wine you drink tonight is of one of the lesser vintages (otherwise we would have had to double the price of your ticket !) Never the less we hope that you will find some of the qualities described so eloquently by Hugh Johnson and particularly the fragrance of Cedar wood which occurs in only the greatest Clarets.
Facts about Chateau Mouton Rothschild
Size - 70 hectares (about 150 acres) under vines
Encepagements - Cabernet Sauvignon 90 %
Cabernet Franc 5 %
Merlot 3.5 %
Petit Verdot 1.5 %
N.B This unusually high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon accounts for Mouton's power, hardness when young and the very long period of maturation.
Quantity of Wine:
80,000 - 200,000 bottles per vintage. Appelation limit 40 hectolitres per hectare(2160 bottles per acre)
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