Winemaker Notes
Luscious black currant flavored Cabernet fruit makes Mouton beguilingly easy to drink. Rich Complex flavors, powerful ripe tannins and an extremely long finish are all hallmarks of this wine.
About the Label Artwork
Bernard Séjourné (1947-1994) was born in Haiti where his family were planters. He studied painting and the history of art first in Jamaica and later in the United States, still preserving close ties with his island home. Mysterious, sophisticated and very different from the naïve style favored by other Haitian painters, Séjourné’s work holds echoes of an ancient culture: women with long graceful necks and half-closed eyes; sea-shells and tropical flowers; the subtle charm of pastel colors and smooth, wave-like shapes.
His trio of masks rising from the dark in their “white negritude” for the label of Mouton Rothschild 1986 is one of the finest examples of his work.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
80% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 10% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Wonderful, concentrated and still astonishingly young, this has brushed of violet aromatics rising above the tight cassis fruits and rich black truffle edging, and the classic menthol edging of a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated Pauillac. We drank this over lunch and it was breathtaking, but were told that 24 hours later it had blossomed even further, so make sure you give this a serious amount of time in carafe to open up -- something that gives you just a small clue to how structured, layered and complex is the wine we are dealing with here.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-black color. An incredible array of aromas on the nose: blackberry, black cherry, tobacco, espresso, leather, black olive and loam. The palate is absolutely seamless from first impression to finish, effortlessly building layers of complexity in the mouth and leading to a very long, earth and spice finish. I can’t see how this could possibly be improvement so have no alternative but concede perfection. Drink now to 2045+.
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Vinous
As it nears 40 years in age, the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild is acquiescing to time, those huge tannins polymerising as primary fruit evolves into secondary. The nose is a cornucopia of scents—blackberry, cedar, mint and freshly picked violet—all delivered with equal precocity and control. This is the first time that this Mouton-Rothschild has conveyed a more melted texture on the palate. There remains immense grip, but all those angles and edges have been smoothed into velvet. It has amazing depth, unfurling layers of predominantly black fruit, blueberry and graphite before it dovetails into a sumptuous yet still aristocratic finish. The 1986 feels like a well-behaved 1982 Mouton, less hedonistic, a little more statesmanlike. In general, the 1986s are a bit forgotten, sometimes dismissed simply because they were predestined to evolve so slowly. But the best examples are delivering for those with patience. The 1986 Mouton-Rothschild is the best of them all.
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Wine Spectator
Ageless, yet balanced. Black color. Mint, mineral, berry and cherry. Full-bodied, chewy and tight. Long, long finish. A great, great wine.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
The leader on the Left Bank in number of first growth classified producers within its boundaries, Pauillac has more than any of the other appellations, at three of the five. Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild border St. Estephe on its northern end and Chateau Latour is at Pauillac’s southern end, bordering St. Julien.
While the first growths are certainly some of the better producers of the Left Bank, today they often compete with some of the “lower ranked” producers (second, third, fourth, fifth growth) in quality and value. The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification that goes back to 1855. The finest chateaux in that year were judged on the basis of reputation and trading price; changes in rank since then have been miniscule at best. Today producers such as Chateau Pontet-Canet, Chateau Grand Puy-Lacoste, Chateau Lynch-Bages, among others (all fifth growth) offer some of the most outstanding wines in all of Bordeaux.
Defining characteristics of fine wines from Pauillac (i.e. Cabernet-based Bordeaux Blends) include inky and juicy blackcurrant, cedar or cigar box and plush or chalky tannins.
Layers of gravel in the Pauillac region are key to its wines’ character and quality. The layers offer excellent drainage in the relatively flat topography of the region allowing water to run off into “jalles” or streams, which subsequently flow off into the Gironde.