By Chateau Mouton Rothschild
2017 Pauillac

Vintage Notes
After a relatively mild winter with below-average rainfall, the first major event in 2017 was a spring frost, which hit Bordeaux on April 27th. However, the Mouton vineyard was fortunately spared. A particularly lengthy drought followed, lasting until December. Spurred by above-average temperatures, the vine growth cycle started slightly earlier than usual at the end of March. Exceptional weather in April and May meant that flowering occurred ten days earlier than the average for all varieties. After a very wet June, summer was moderately sunny but dry, increasing a water deficit that started in 2016. As a result, the grapes remained small, with concentrated sugar and color.

Production
With an early growth cycle and a dry summer, the 2017 harvest was particularly early. At Chateau Mouton Rothschild, it lasted from September 7th to 29th. Running-off ended on October 20th, and blending was completed in December. The wines are full-bodied and rich, with deep color, an attractive tannic structure, and pleasantly fresh, even though 2017 was a solar vintage.

Grape Varieties
90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot

Tasting Notes
The wine has a deep, dark color with a garnet hue. The elegant and complex nose opens on wild berry aromas. With airing, notes of pepper, blackcurrant bud, and dried flowers bring a satisfying sensation of harmony. The attack is fresh, clear-cut, and well-structured, leading into a dense, full-bodied mid-palate of fresh fruit flavors. Refined and mature tannins coat the palate, leaving an enduring impression of smoothness. A packed and balanced finish confirms this is a wine full of promise.
[Information provided by Maisons Marques and Domaines USA]

Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac 2017
Score/Rating: 98
Review Date: 12/19/2019
Reviewed By: James Suckling
Tasting Notes: Extremely perfumed Mouton with currants and crushed berries. Hints of roses and other flowers. Tight and extremely refined with ultra-fine tannins and cool yet rich currant character. The center palate offers sweet cherries and hints of oak. Lightly sweet and sour. Fresh, balsamic note. It firms up at the end. Solid. A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. Try after 2025.

Wine: 2017 Chateau Mouton Rothschild (Pauillac)
Score/Rating: 97
Suggested Drinking Window: Drink from 2026-2060
Review Date: 11/13/2023
Tasting Notes: A candidate for wine of the vintage due to all of its waves of dark red and black fruits, currants, blackberries, mint, spice, and crushed rock nuances. The wine is full, rich, vibrant, and balanced with purity to the fruits and lift in the lengthy finish. Give it just a few more years and it will really start singing. Drink from 2026-2060.

Wine: Chateau Mouton-Rothschild Pauillac 2017
Score/Rating: 97
Suggested Drinking Window: Drink now through 2040
Review Date: 03/31/2020
Reviewed By: James Molesworth
Tasting Notes: A brick house Cabernet, featuring a thick sheath of warm ganache and smoldering tobacco over a core of well-steeped black currant, black fig and blackberry compote flavors. Cuts a wide and deep trench as it moves along, with loamy, tannic grip for ballast. Retains a well-buried inner purity that should blossom as this mellows in the cellar. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2025 through 2040.

Wine: 2017 Mouton Rothschild
Score/Rating: 96+
Suggested Drinking Window: 2022 - 2067
Review Date: 10/31/2019
Reviewed By: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Tasting Notes: [...] Deep garnet-purple in color, it slowly unfurls to reveal notes of warm black plums, baked black cherries, kirsch and freshly crushed blackcurrants with hints of candied violets, cinnamon toast, Ceylon tea and pencil shavings. Medium-bodied, the palate is charged with amazing energy, featuring dynamic black and red fruits and loads of baking spice and mineral sparks, framed by ripe, fine-grained tannins and finishing long and fragrant. Given the intensity of fruit and structure, while this is a relatively elegant Mouton that will be approachable early on, I don't see it as being short lived. It should give pleasure for a good 40+ years. 

Wine: 2017 Chateau Mouton Rothschild
Score/Rating: 96
Suggested Drinking Window: 2020 - 2050
Review Date: 2/26/2020
Reviewed By: Jeb Dunnuck        
Tasting Notes: The top 2017 Chateau Mouton Rothschild checks in as 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot [...]. This rock star of a wine offers stunning notes of chocolately blackcurrants, toasted spice, and espresso roast, as well as loads of classic Pauillac lead pencil shavings and graphite nuances. It's another wine that starts out slowly yet builds incrementally on the palate with full-bodied richness, ripe, polished tannin, no hard edges, and a stunning sense of purity and elegance. Give bottles upwards of a decade and it will evolve for 30 years or more.

Wine: Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, 1er Cru Classe, 2017
Score/Rating: 96
Drinking Window: 2027 - 2050
Review Date: 11/20/2019
Reviewed By: Jane Anson 
Tasting Notes: Graphite, black chocolate, pencil lead, blackberry and liquorice. This is serious, not holding back on its confident sense of power and depth. [...] new oak coming through as toasted grilled almond aromatics, this has no issue with settling in for the long term and will deliver over the next two to three decades. Easy to love.

Wine: 2017 Mouton Rothschild
Score/Rating: 95
Suggested Drinking Window: 2025 - 2050
Review Date: 12/29/2022
Reviewed By: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Tasting Notes: A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Mouton Rothschild is deep garnet-purple in color. It is a tad shut down to start, soon opening to give up scents of redcurrant jelly, blackcurrant cordial, black plum preserves, and wild sage, plus touches of pencil lead, cracked black pepper, and charcuterie. Light to medium-bodied, the palate is vibrant and energetic, delivers firm, grainy tannins and plenty of freshness to the delicately layered red and black fruits, finishing long and mineral-laced.

Wine: Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2017 Pauillac
Score/Rating: 95 - Cellar Selection
Review Date: 03/01/2020
Reviewed By: Roger Voss
Tasting Notes: The hint of new wood still shows in the aroma of this wine. But on the palate, it has the richness and exuberance that comes with this great estate. Tannins show structure and intensity, bringing out the bold black fruits. Packed with freshness as well as structure, the wine will age well. [...].

Wine: 2017 Mouton-Rothschild
Score/Rating: 93+
Suggested Drinking Window: 2025 - 2057
Review Date: 12/2019
Reviewed By: Antonio Galloni
Tasting Notes: The 2017 Mouton Rothschild is a powerful, brooding wine that very much reflects the high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Not in the mood to show much, the 2017 is also very much closed in on itself. Time in the glass brings out hints of black cherry jam, wild flowers and spice, but that's about it. Readers will have to be patient with the 2017, but I am not sure Mouton will ever be an elegant wine in this vintage. Time will tell.

Wine: Ch Mouton Rothschild 2017 Pauillac
Score/Rating: 17.5++/20
Suggested Drinking Window: 2027 - 2045
Review Date: 10/05/2021
Reviewed By: Tom Parker MW
Tasting Notes: Tasted blind. Deep ruby-purple colour. Big, bold and smoky nose with plenty of exotic spice overlaying brambly dark fruit. Huge tannic structure matched by plush fruit and very sweetly spiced oak. This is as glossy as the vintage gets without being overdone. Long and smoky finish lined with very persistent, ripe tannins. Chocolatey yet serious, this is very expressive already but needs time to fully knit together. (TP)