Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac 2022 1.5Ltr

Wow. The aromas here are so complete with blackcurrants, asphalt, violets, lead pencil, orange blossoms and black truffles. A perfect nose. It's full-bodied yet tied down with seamless tannins that run the length of the wine and give such a seductive mouthfeel and persistence. A vintage with one of the highest percentages of cabernet sauvignon ever. Quintessential, great Bordeaux with no limits. Drink after 2028.

Bottled in June of 2024, the 2022 Château Mouton Rothschild checks in as classic blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot that was raised all in new barrels. Incredibly concentrated yet light on its feet and graceful, this inky-hued beauty has sensational notes of cassis, graphite, crushed stone, and chocolate that are to die for. It shows the ripe, opulent style of the vintage yet brings sensational purity, loads of tannins, and a gorgeous finish. For the tech geeks out there, this hit 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.86, and an IPT (tannins) of 76. It has the depth of fruit and texture to offer incredible pleasure even today, yet it deserves a decade of bottle age and will evolve for 50-60 years. It reminds me of a mix of the 2009 and 2010.

Spicy liquorice, bitter chocolate, tobacco, cigar, and aniseed on the nose. Round and bright, with juicy, delicate fruit and velvety tannins. Super concentrated yet graceful, layering ripeness, freshness, and stoniness. Controlled power - soft in texture but packed with Cabernet structure. Starts juicy and creamy, then surges with depth and length. Sweet black fruit meets cool, steely minerality, giving complexity and definition. Black liquorice on a sticky finish. Bold for Mouton but outstanding, this is going to deliver for decades. 3.68pH. Ageing 100% new oak.

The 2022 Mouton Rothschild has a very expressive, floral bouquet that suggests Margaux, with fabulous delineation and focus. It just seems to billow from the glass. The palate is velvety smooth, with fine acidity and a touch of graphite infusing the black fruit. Restrained and, paradoxically, intense on the finish, this lingers wonderfully in the glass. Deeply impressive. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

96-98 Barrel sample. Big and bold, this is a classic Mouton, with the difference of acidity and freshness. The wine's structure shows some powerful tannins, giving richness balanced by a crisp touch at the end.

The blend is 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot, and the élevage was in 100% new oak for 18 months. A glorious nose, so pure, with powdered chalk, incense and sandalwood, with a little dark curranty fruit lingering behind it all, as well as a fragrant little lift of mint and white flowers. A beautiful palate, polished and complete, filling every corner of the mouth with polished dark blackcurrant fruits, damson, olive and liquorice, with gentle seams of tobacco and toast, with a very complete and deeply buried core of tightly knit tannins which provide a beautiful structural frame for this dark fruit, while remaining demurely in the background. This is just beautiful, so complete, with spine-tingling integration and harmony, and such finesse of structure. So long too, those tobacco and cedar notes intertwined here with the long, tight-knit tannins. A fabulous Mouton, with brilliant potential;it seems a fitting tribute to Baron Philippe who arrived at the estate in 1922, as depicted on 2022 label art. The alcohol is 13.82% on analysis, and 14% on the label.

The 2022 Mouton Rothschild is one of the most muscular, almost brutally powerful wines of the vintage. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of dark berries, plums and sweet crème de cassis mingled with notions of espresso roast, pencil lead and petroleum jelly, it's full-bodied, dense and concentrated, with huge reserves of tannin and fruit. A blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot that represents 49% of the estate's production, this is a prodigious Mouton that's built for the cellar.