Looking for the perfect Valentines gift for your wine-oh loved one this year?  How about one bottle each of the 1985 and 1986 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Bordeaux?  The ’86 vintage was one of a handful of wines to receive a perfect 100-point rating by Robert Parker and the ’85 received a respectable 90 points. 

Two lots of the 85 and 86 will be auctioned this Saturday at the Potomack Company in Old Town.  Robert Parker says of the 1986 vintage: “I suspect the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild requires a minimum of 15-20 more years of cellaring; it has the potential to last for 50-100 years! Given the outrageously high prices being fetched by so many of the great 1982s and 1990s, it appears this wine might still be one of the relative bargains in the fine wine marketplace. Drink from 2006 2091.”

Last week I viewed the lots of Mouton Rothschild, and they were in pristine condition – from the label to the capsule.  The estimated selling price for these lots are set at a surprisingly low $700-$900. 

Last week, Sothebys dropped the hammer on a single bottle of ’86 Mouton Rothschild at just over $850. The bottle carried a torn label, which likely knocked the bidding down at least 20 percent.  As this wine is just now coming into its maturity and will be drinking well until 2091, this auction will be one heck of a great deal and investment if the winning bid is as low as estimated.

Mouton Rothschild The Artists Labels
Did you know that since 1945 Chateau Mouton Rothschild has commissioned a different artist to complement their wine labels?   

In 1924, Baron Philippe de Rothschild commissioned poster artist, Jean Carlu to design a special label the first vintage of Mouton-Rothschild as a sort of certificate of origin and quality.  The label remains today one of the greatest Cubist influence on modern commercial art. 

In 1945, after the Liberation of France (thanks in no small part to our US Troops), Baron Rothschild dedicated this vintage to The Year of the Victory and commissioned Philippe Jullian to produce a graphic design based on the “V” sign made famous by Winston Churchill during the war.   

Since then, each label of Chateau Mouton Rothschild bears the  art of a contemporary artist to illustrate the label.  The artist of the 1985 label is Paul Delvaux and the 1986 label bears the work of Bernard Sjourn.