2006 Château Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, Bordeaux

The best first growth of the year? I have always believed so, right out of the Primeurs. Ruby, but with a garnet rim much less impenetrable colour-wise than the 2005), with brightly floral strawberry and red cherry nuances along with savoury underbrush and a hint of cèpes. Very suave, long and polished.

Drink 2016 - 2045

This is an eye-opener with a tight core of complex fruit character and subtle chocolate and spices. Full body, firm tannins and a classy finish. Holding back. Much better than expected. A vintage forgotten. 

Better in 2018

Lucian Freud label. Dark crimson. Refined, lifted, elegant nose with masses of polish. Sweet palate entry and very confident terroir-determined nose. Dry finish. Very appetising. Racy. Prescient in a way because this is the style of wine people are looking for now. Lead-pencil flavours. Dry tannins in the background. Food please! 

This will never be massive, but the balance is great.

Drink 2020 - 2040

The breadth and depth of this wine is impossible to ignore. Tobacco notes blend with cappuccino, cedar and grilled almonds. This is classy, with just the right amount of abandon. Grilled black fruits are very Mouton but with the touch of austerity and pulled-in, pared-down tannins that tell you it’s 2006. Complex and complete.

Drink 2018 - 2040

Tasted at the Mouton-Rothschild vertical in London, the 2006 Mouton-Rothschild was really the wine that put winemaker Philippe Dhalluin on the map, in the sense that unlike the 2005 born in a great vintage, this 2006 had to transcend it. 

It remains one of the growing season's standouts and replicates previous showings just the week earlier and in January. As expected, the nose has quite a brilliant delineation with blackberry and graphite, here an almost cold slate-like scent. The palate is harmonious with the carefully judged acidity, fine-grain tannin and immense detail on the finish. 

Recent bottles suggest that it may close up for several years, in which case, either enjoy this in the next few months or cellar this for a few years and receive vinous dividends down the line.

Drink 2023 - 2055

A sensational effort, the 2006 Mouton Rothschild exhibits an opaque purple colour and a classic Mouton perfume of creme de cassis, flowers, blueberries, and only a hint of oak. Dalhuin told me that in whisky barrel-tasting vintages such as 1989 and 1990, Mouton was aged in heavily toasted barrels, and they have backed off to a much lighter toast for the barrels’ interior. This has worked fabulously with the cassis quality fruit they get from Cabernet Sauvignon. 

The full-bodied, powerful 2006 possesses extraordinary purity and clarity. A large-scaled, massive Mouton Rothschild that ranks as one of the top four or five wines of the vintage may turn out to be the longest-lived wine of the vintage by a landslide. The label will undoubtedly be controversial as a relative of Sigmund Freud, Lucian Freud, has painted a rather comical Zebra staring aimlessly at what appears to be a palm tree in the middle of a stark courtyard. 

I suppose a psychiatrist could figure out the relationship between that artwork and wine, but I couldn’t see one. This utterly profound Mouton will need to sleep for 15+ years before revealing any secondary nuances, but it is a packed and stacked first-growth Pauillac of enormous potential. 

Anticipated maturity: 2020 - 2060+

Bright ruby-red. Vibrant aromas of cassis, blueberry, cedar and graphite. Wonderfully pure and silky in the mouth, with great subtle, slow-building intensity and superb energy and thrust. A real essence of cabernet sauvignon and Mouton terroir. This one really rattled my brain in the gentlest way. As silky as it is, it possesses bottomless depths. Finishes with big but noble tannins and outstanding length. 

I loved this wine the spring after the harvest, and it's even more impressive today. This should go on for decades, but today, it's hard to imagine this wine going through an extended sullen stage. By the way, I'm a great fan of Lucien Freud's work, but his label for this wine does not do justice to the juice inside the bottle.