Château Mouton Rothschild unveils the label for its 2019 vintage illustrated by Olafur Eliasson and offers an exceptional auction by Sotheby’s of a single lot of Château Mouton Rothschild 2019 for the benefit of the Bergonié Foundation
Olafur Eliasson, the Danish-Icelandic artist, has created the original artwork Solar Iris of Mouton for the label of Château Mouton Rothschild 2019.
At the intersection of nature, art and science, Solar Iris of Mouton, created by Olafur Eliasson for Château Mouton Rothschild 2019, celebrates the alliance of sun and wine.
Olafur Eliasson says: “Solar Iris of Mouton is a map of all the sunsets and sunrises that take place over a year at Château Mouton Rothschild. Depicting each hour of daylight and night-time that go into the growing of the grapes, it is a kind of signature for the vineyard, telling us something about the conditions in which the wine grew and the intimate relationship between the wine and its location. Tasting the wine connects us to the local environment, to the soil, and to the particular weather, seasons, and lighting of the place. Visible through the eye-like oculus at the centre of the label, the wine contains the golden sun, the earth, and the sky; it is local and it simultaneously bears a trace of the celestial.”
Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, co-owner of Château Mouton Rothschild and responsible for producing the label, explains: “I have been fascinated by Olafur Eliasson’s work for many years. His wonderful exhibition at Versailles in 2016 was a defining moment for me and I said to myself ‘One day, if he is willing, Olafur Eliasson will be one of Château Mouton Rothschild’s artists’. His art focuses on the essential and that is what he has managed to capture for Mouton Rothschild: time, the round of the seasons and the sun at the centre of everything, treated here in the form of a diagram.”
Art has always been central to the history of Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s family, and Château Mouton Rothschild has a long-standing and close link with leading contemporary artists. Each year since 1945 a leading artist has illustrated the Château Mouton Rothschild label, forming a collection that features the most famous names in contemporary art. The prestigious list includes some of the most celebrated figures of their day, such as Dalí, César, Miró, Chagall, Picasso and Warhol. Many of these distinguished artists spent time at Château Mouton Rothschild, where their original artworks are displayed in the Paintings for the Labels room.
For the first time ever, on the occasion of this year’s label reveal, Château Mouton Rothschild has teamed up with Sotheby’s for an exceptional online auction of a single lot of the 2019 vintage.
The lot includes a wide range of formats, with an exclusive double magnum the label of which is signed by Olafur Eliasson and the family, six bottles, three magnums, an Imperial and the only Nebuchadnezzar released on the market to date.
The proceeds of the auction will go to the Bergonié Foundation, which supports the funding of targeted research programmes carried out by the Bergonié Institute, a private non-profit hospital that is a European benchmark for cancerology and an acknowledged specialist in breast and uterine cancer and soft-tissue sarcomas. It is Bordeaux’s only regional inpatient and outpatient cancer centre.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA’s employees selected the Bergonié Foundation as the recipient of the 2021 annual gift by the Philippine de Rothschild Corporate Foundation to a local cause, and Château Mouton Rothschild will donate the proceeds of this unique auction sale to strengthen its support for the Foundation.
The auction will close at 7.00pm CET today.
90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot. Phenomenal wine for the future, with its intrinsic, but not overt, power. All the myriad black fruits, but what class in the tannins. Everything is so ‘natural’ here, nothing exaggerated, but everything magnified. That is greatness.
“Mouton, as it is affectionately known by all its devotees, is the most opulent and exuberant of all the Firsts, a reflection of the two huge personalities that headed the Château since 1920, Baron Philippe and then Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, who sadly left us a few years ago. The great cassis depths of this wine seduce everyone who appreciates the finest Bordeaux. It is a gloriously forceful, flamboyant wine, voluptuous and powerful signed by Philippe Dhalluin, Mouton's talented General Director and Head Winemaker from 2003 to 2020 and Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy, the current Head Winemaker. The stunning beauty of the wines has been further strengthened by meticulous attention to detail in vineyard and cellar.Many of my own greatest wine drinking experiences revolve around Mouton throughout this century and the last. Magnificent Mouton is a sensory photo on the mind that stays with one for life.”
Serena Sutcliffe, MW
A Bordeaux First Growth, Château Mouton Rothschild spans 84 hectares (207 acres) of vines at Pauillac in the Médoc, planted with the classic varieties of the region: Cabernet Sauvignon (80%), Merlot (16%), Cabernet Franc (3%) and Petit Verdot (1%).
The estate benefits from exceptionally favourable natural conditions, in the quality of the soil, the position of its vines and their exposure to the sun. From grape to bottle, combining respect for tradition with the latest technology, the wine receives meticulous attention from highly skilled winemakers and vinegrowers responsible for each parcel of the estate. The grapes are harvested by hand in small open crates, sorted on vibrating tables and vinified in oak vats with some transparent staves, after which the wine is matured for 18 months in new French oak casks.
Brought to the pinnacle by two exceptional people, Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988) then his daughter Baroness Philippine (1933-2014), Mouton Rothschild is also a place of art and beauty, famous for the spectacular vista of its great barrel hall, its magnificent vat house and the Museum of Wine in Art with its collection of precious objects associated with the vine and wine from two millennia.
Mouton Rothschild now belongs to baroness Philippine’s three children, Camille Sereys de Rothschild, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild. True to their grandfather’s and mother’s work, all three are committed, with the same enthusiasm and determination, to perpetuating Baron Philippe’s dictum: “Vivre la vigne”. Almost a command, it means being there for the vineyard in good times and in hardship, working it with dedication, skill and craft, and honouring it with art.
Every year since 1945, the Château Mouton Rothschild label has been illustrated with an original artwork by a great contemporary artist.
In 1924, to salute his first vintage bottled entirely at the Château, Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988), father of Baroness Philippine (1933-2014), asked the famous poster designer Jean Carlu to create the Château Mouton Rothschild label. Ahead of its time, it remained an isolated initiative.
In 1945, this time to celebrate the return of peace, Baron Philippe decided to crown the label for the vintage with the "V" for Victory, drawn by the young painter Philippe Jullian. This exceptional circumstance marked the start of a tradition and, every year since 1946, a different artist has been invited to create an original artwork for the label. Initially, Baron Philippe chose painters from amongst his friends, such as Jean Hugo, Léonor Fini and Jean Cocteau. Then, in 1955, Georges Braque himself agreed to illustrate the vintage. He was followed by the greatest artists of our time, including Dalí, César, Miró, Chagall, Picasso, Warhol, Soulages, Bacon, Balthus, Tàpies and Jeff Koons, forming a fascinating collection to which a new work is added each year.
Mouton Rothschild’s owners, Camille Sereys de Rothschild, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, the latter now responsible for producing the label, have always respected the freedom of the chosen artists, though many of them have been attracted by themes such as the vine, the pleasure of drinking or the ram, the Mouton emblem. The artists receive no fee for their work but are given cases of Château Mouton Rothschild, including of course "their" vintage.
In 1981, on Baroness Philippine's initiative, the collection gave rise to a travelling exhibition, "Mouton Rothschild, Paintings for the Labels", shown in many museums around the world. It is now on permanent display at Mouton in the superb space created for it by Baroness Philippine in 2013, between the vat house and the famous Museum of Wine in Art. Enhanced by a new artwork each year, the exhibition needed refurbishing and will reopen, finer than ever, in 2022.
