Tasting Notes
Vinous 96
The 2020 Mouton-Rothschild has a delineated and intense bouquet, slightly more tertiary than its peers, with graphite and cedar notes developing in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins. Silky smooth in texture, it's a very polished 2022, fanning out gloriously toward the finish. To put it prosaically, this is a very delicious First Growth with a very sustained aftertaste and the sapidity to tempt you back for more. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
Anticipated maturity: 2032-2065
Robert Parker 98
The 2020 Mouton Rothschild is composed of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, with an alcohol of 13.1% and a pH of around 3.78. Deep purple-black colored, it starts off with subtle notions of fresh raspberries and blackberries, needing considerable swirling and patience to unlock its intense core of blackcurrant pastilles, rose oil, licorice and cardamom, plus touches of cedar chest, black truffles and crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate is like a tightly coiled spring, possessing exhilarating tension and very firm, ripe, multi-grained tannins to frame the layer upon layer of black and red fruits intertwined with earthy and mineral accents, finishing very long and very fragrant. It is certainly the most coy, reticent and elegant grand vin of this trio of vintages (2018, 2019 and 2020), bearing Mouton’s signature perfume, opulence and stylishness with great grace and sophistication as opposed to devil-may-care flamboyance. It’s this gently teasing, achingly beautiful restraint that collectors are not going to want to miss.
Anticipated maturity: 2027-2067
