Community Tasting Note
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BenBlu Likes this wine: 95 points
April 24, 2016 - Mouton Rothschild Vertical
Matter of Taste Masterclass Verticals of Mouton Rothschild with Philippe Philippe Dallhuin and Neal Martin
Wines tasted 2005-13 from bottle and 2014 & 2015 barrel samples - all wines were decanted for a couple of hours before the tasting and spent considerable time in glass (between 1-3 hours).
2005: Initial impression was this was much more developed then I thought. Compared to other 2005 left banks wines I tried recently (Montrose, Poyferre, Grand Puy Lacoste). Some bricking around the edges (visually certainly the most developed of the whole line-up), displaying great creme de cassis, tobacco leaf and cedar. I could have drank a bottle of this wine now the way it showed without thinking it would be a crime. Certainly it should develop nicely -it’s got this lovely acidity that should ensure this will keep going for decades. Very impressive. 97-99
2006: Tasted after the 05 this came across as fairly closed and had a short finish compared to the previous wine. Visually some bricking around the edges but not as developed looking as 05. I felt it needed a lot of time in bottle and in my book this was nowhere near the 2005 (or some other vintages in this line-up incl 2008 & 2012). Neal Martin liked the graphite and in general RP has in the past rated this wine over the 05. The Group was divided and there was a fair amount of people that had a preference for the 06 vs the 05, some said they found the 06 more approachable. I certainly prefer the Cos d’Estournel 2006 over this which I have had a couple of times. 91-93
2007: One of the disappointing wines of the vertical. It was weird both on the nose and the palate - on the nose I thought I picked up some distracting glue aromas and on the palate nothing really dominated - there was decent acidity but with a lack of fruit to go with it. All the 2007 I had lately were unimpressive. Same here. Avoid. 86-88
2008: One of the positive surprises of the tasting. After the 2006 & 07 like a knight in shining armour to lift the drop in quality from going from 05 to 06 to 07. I found this already really enjoyable now. Beautiful cuban cigar on the nose and a long finish with a beautiful vanilla aftertaste. This is a gentle wine, slightly feminine. Pretty, No doubt 2 step up from the 07. Better then 06! 94-96
2009: Noticeably darker in color then the wine preceding it. Dark crimson / black cherry colour. WOW! This does hit all your taste buds from the first sip. A monument of a wine and you can just say what a privilege to try this (and the 2010). This is destined for perfection. It does make you feel sorry for Philippe and Mouton that Parker rated this 99+ and 99 in his last reviews in 2012 & 2014. I think it would have deserved to be another RP 100er in that vintage. 98-100
2010: After the 2009 came along the 2010. Another WOW! Almost black in colour (yet again darker then the 09). It does humble you to taste these great two vintages together and it dwarfs all (maybe with the slight exception of 05) all the other wines in this beautiful vertical. The 2010 is surely more classic then the 2009. It has more Pauillac typically. Neal Martin preferred the 2010 over the 2009. So long - pinnacle of Pauillac? This or 09. It’s not for me to say. I’d love to get the chance to taste those two side by side again when they are more developed. Philippe made the analogy that 2009 is the Barbie and 2010 is the Ken. The quality of both wines is such that after a very long decant you could actually be enjoying them already. But of course you would deprive yourself of an even more rewarding experience way further down the line. 2x Bravo! Mouton for 09 & 10.
2011: Difficult to be up after the 09 & 10. I needed to go back to the 06 first to “re-calibrate” my taste buds and be in a position to try and fairly assess/score this wine. The 2011 was actually quite good I thought and was in a relatively approachable place. Some lovely acidity - the wine was light on its feet. Got some kirsch, some saddle leather. Could actually drink this now. An early drinker, but a good one. Positively surprised. 92-94
2012: Even better then the 2011. For my money best of the “2nd Tier” (after 05, 09, 10). Just a bit more of everything compared to 2011. Great fruit, forest floor, quite approachable now. Another early but fantastic drinker. Very positively surprised - impressive! 94-96
2013: Ughhh. Harsh - really vegetal. Hard to decide which is the worse vintage - 2007 or 2013. If this is the best of the 1st growth Medoc wines of the vintage as per RP I will try and never have another bottle of this vintage again. First and last. Avoid! 86-88
2014/15 Barrel Samples: No scores as I just don’t have enough opinion to opine. Neal Martin likes the 2014 but he thinks the 2015 will be clearly better still.
Summary: Fantastic event. For my money there is (not surprisingly) one clear top Tier (2009/10 - and then still belonging in Top tier the 2005 with a small distance behind the 2009&10. In terms of today’s drinking it’s the 05, but the 09 & 10 just have SO much potential); followed by Tier II which are vines from lesser vintage which I would consider having again and can recommend (2012, 2008) followed by Tier III which are wines that others will enjoy more then me and which I think are good wines and maybe I just picked them up in a weak spot and maybe am not that qualified to judge at present (2006, 2011) and the Bottom Tier which are wines to absolutely avoid (2007 & 2013) as I would not be happy even paying a fraction of the market price, in fact I just don’t enjoy them at all.8 people found this helpful 8,218 views
3 Comments
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Collector1855 commented:
12/18/17, 7:15 AM - Excellent TNs, very helpful.
PS: Have you noticed that you can link individual notes into a Tasting story so you dont have to duplicate them? -
BenBlu commented:
12/18/17, 7:19 AM - Thank you Collector1855 - I didn't know that when I wrote those notes but have since figured that out and have been using the feature when it made sense (see my Figeac tasting). Appreciate the feedback and let me say that I am a big fan of your notes on this platform and find them really useful! All the best, Ben.
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Collector1855 commented:
12/18/17, 8:35 PM - Fab! just looked up that story. Good to hear that finally with 2015/16 Figeac is back to where its quality should be. What a shame to the old family who just let this property slip into lots of misses and only a few hits.