Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2009

A Rothschild estate on a Pauillac mound

Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild bought Chateau Brane-Mouton in 1853 and renamed it Chateau Mouton Rothschild. The estate had not been kept up: the vineyard needed extensive replanting, and the seller, Isaac Thuret, let it go for less than he had paid 23 years earlier. Two years later the 1855 classification ranked Mouton a Second Growth.

The name, the estate says, almost certainly has nothing to do with sheep. The Medoc is a run of low gravel hillocks, and 'Mouton' most likely comes from 'motte' or 'mothon,' an old French word for a rise or mound, just as Lafite comes from 'faite,' a ridge. Mouton's hill reaches almost 29 meters, among the highest points in Pauillac, and its thin, poor gravel soil runs several meters down over a clay-limestone base.

In 1922 Baron Philippe de Rothschild took over. He began bottling the entire crop at the chateau in 1924 and made it his mission to have Mouton reclassified. He succeeded: Mouton became a First Growth starting with the 1973 vintage, the only change ever made to the 1855 ranking. It is also, one longtime critic notes, the only First Growth still in the same family's hands since 1855.

When Baron Philippe died in 1988, his only child, Philippine, a stage actress who had performed as Philippine Pascal at the Comedie-Francaise, gave up the theater to run the estate. She launched the white Aile d'Argent in 1991 and the second wine, Le Petit Mouton, in 1993, and hired Philippe Dhalluin, formerly of Chateau Branaire-Ducru, who ran Mouton's winemaking until 2020. Under him the share of the harvest going into the grand vin fell steadily, from the 80% to 85% that was common before 2000 to about half.

2009: more sun than 1947 or 1982

Mouton's own account of the year opens with a simple line: 'Nature was particularly kind in 2009.' The winter was a little colder than usual, but by March the region had logged 204 more hours of sunshine than its 30-year average. April was very wet and May stormy, and then flowering came quickly and evenly around June 5.

Summer set in from mid-June with remarkable sunshine and little rain. August temperatures ran 1.4 degrees Celsius above average, the vines were under steady water stress, and the grapes ripened slowly to full maturity. In September, hot days alternated with cool nights. A forecast of heavy rain in early September never really arrived, and from September 21 conditions stayed flawless through the harvest. Mouton picked its Merlot from September 23 and finished the Cabernet Sauvignon on October 6, with grapes it called 'extremely healthy, containing plenty of sugar, colour and fruit.' The estate's technical sheet for the wine gives the harvest as September 23 to October 13.

Critics reached for the great years. One tasting service compared 2009 to 1947, 1961 and 2005, noting that the Left Bank had more hours of sunshine than in 1947 or 1982 and the grapes more sugar than in 2003 or 2005. Jeff Leve called it 'the sexiest, most opulent vintage I have tasted from the region.' In April 2012 Robert Parker published his in-bottle scores and gave 19 different 2009 Bordeaux 100 points.

The wine in the bottle

The 2009 Mouton is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Merlot. Parker noted that it represented 50% of the estate's production, and that its alcohol, 13.2%, was not terribly high for a 2009, which he credited to the high share of Cabernet. One critic recorded yields of about 33 hectoliters per hectare and estimated about 200,000 bottles; another review gives 16,000 cases. Jane Anson recorded aging in 100% new oak.

Parker, scoring it 99, wrote that it 'begs comparison as a young wine with what the 1982 tasted like in 1985 or, I suspect, what the 1959 may have tasted like in 1962,' and judged it capable of lasting 50 or more years. In a later note he called it as concentrated as the 2010 but 'more consumer-friendly' and 'seductive.' Jeb Dunnuck gave it 100 as 'pure perfection,' predicting 50 to 60 years of evolution.

Jeff Leve scored it 96-98 from barrel in August 2010, 98 in bottle in May 2012 and 100 in a July 2022 tasting, recommending drinking from 2029 to 2075. Others were close behind: Jane Anson 99, James Suckling 98, Wine Spectator's James Molesworth 98 in a 2017 vertical, and Neal Martin 97 at a blind tasting. At an earlier blind tasting, in January 2013, Martin found it 'more showy and decadent' than its rivals and admitted he had at first suspected it might be its neighbor Pontet-Canet.

Anish Kapoor's burst of red

Since 1945 Mouton has commissioned a different artist for the label of almost every vintage; the roster runs through Picasso, Chagall, Miro, Warhol, Cocteau, Dali and Francis Bacon. For 2009 the Baroness chose Anish Kapoor, a friend. The commission was announced in December 2011.

Kapoor, a British citizen of Indian origin, was born in Mumbai in 1954 and settled in England in 1972 and completed his studies at art colleges there, including the Chelsea School of Art. He won the Turner Prize in 1991; in 2011 his 'Leviathan' filled the nave of the Grand Palais in Paris, and he was commissioned to design the emblematic sculpture for the London Olympic Games. The estate describes his gouache for 2009 as 'at once austere and flamboyant,' expressing 'the fertile thrust of plant life, the result of an intense encounter between matter and light.'

'He has produced a label that is a burst of colour and life,' the Baroness said. 'I see the red as representing wine, joy and happiness, which fits perfectly with the 2009 vintage. We are lucky to have a great painter with a great vintage.' As is the estate's custom, the artist is paid not in money but in cases of wine, including the vintage he illustrated.

From record futures to the open market

The 2009 futures were the most expensive Bordeaux had ever offered. In June 2010 Mouton, Lafite and Margaux all released their first tranche at 450 euros a bottle from the chateau, about $550, and negociants then offered Mouton and Lafite to merchants at 550 euros. The first tranches were small; one negociant said Mouton released about 30% less than the year before. Jeff Leve later wrote that the 2009 campaign was 'shockingly expensive' until the 2010s came out priced higher still.

In June 2022 a single bottle sold for $687.50 at an online auction, against an estimate of $600 to $900. In the same sale a lot of 21 half bottles and two 12-bottle lots were also offered. In 2026 a U.S. merchant listed the 2009 at $1,125 a bottle; the same merchant offered a 6-liter bottle, which holds as much as eight standard bottles, at $11,300.

The 2009 also marks a turning point at the property: Baroness Philippine rebuilt the winery soon after, and a new vat room designed by Richard Peduzzi and the architect Bernard Mazieres came into service in 2012, in time for the vintages that followed. She died in August 2014; her eldest son, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, was named president that October, and today he and his two siblings preside over the estate.

The numbers

Vineyard

Sources differ: 82, 83, 84 or 90 hectares; the estate's own site gives both 84 ha (207 acres) and 90 ha (222 acres)

2009 blend

88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot

Production

About 200,000 bottles at about 33 hl/ha (one critic); 16,000 cases (another review)

Alcohol

13.2% per Robert Parker; 13% per a merchant listing

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate

99

Jeb Dunnuck

100

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

100 (2022)

Jane Anson

99

Wine Spectator (James Molesworth, 2017)

98

Neal Martin, Vinous

97

Timeline

1. 1853

   Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild buys Brane-Mouton and renames it Chateau Mouton Rothschild.

2. 1855

   Mouton is ranked a Second Growth in the Bordeaux classification.

3. 1922

   Baron Philippe de Rothschild takes over the estate.

4. 1924

   Mouton begins bottling its entire crop at the chateau.

5. 1945

   The annual series of artist labels begins.

6. 1973

   Mouton is promoted to First Growth, the only change ever made to the 1855 ranking.

7. 1988

   Baron Philippe dies; Baroness Philippine inherits the estate.

8. Jun 5, 2009

   Flowering takes place, quickly and evenly, around this date.

9. Sep 23, 2009

   Harvest of the 2009 begins with the Merlot.

10. Oct 6, 2009

    The last Cabernet Sauvignon is picked.

11. Jun 2010

    Mouton releases its first tranche of 2009 futures at 450 euros a bottle ex-chateau.

12. Aug 26, 2010

    Jeff Leve scores the 2009 Mouton 96-98 from barrel.

13. Dec 2011

    Anish Kapoor is announced as the artist for the 2009 label.

14. 2012

    Mouton's new vat room comes into service.

15. Apr 2012

    Robert Parker publishes in-bottle scores for the 2009s, rating 19 wines 100 points.

16. May 4, 2012

    Jeff Leve scores the bottled 2009 Mouton 98.

17. 2014

    Baroness Philippine de Rothschild dies.

18. Mar 2017

    A Wine Spectator vertical of Mouton scores the 2009 98 points.

19. 2020

    Philippe Dhalluin, who made the 2009, leaves Mouton.

20. Jun 15, 2022

    A single bottle of the 2009 sells at an online auction for $687.50.

21. Jul 8, 2022

    Jeff Leve scores the 2009 100 points.

The world in 2009

• Jan 3, 2009

  The first block of the Bitcoin blockchain is mined.

• Jan 15, 2009

  US Airways Flight 1549 ditches in the Hudson River with no fatalities.

• Jan 20, 2009

  Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.

• Jun 11, 2009

  The H1N1 swine flu outbreak is declared a global pandemic.

• Jun 25, 2009

  Michael Jackson dies, setting off worldwide mourning.

• Dec 1, 2009

  The Treaty of Lisbon comes into force in the European Union.

• 2009

  Avatar becomes the year's highest-grossing film.

Daily price data

FLOAT reprices this wine every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.

Every grade and recorded sale for this wine

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2009 is number 59 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (37 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Mouton's label artists are paid in wine, not money, including cases of the vintage they illustrated.
• The name Mouton probably comes not from the sheep but from 'motte,' an old French word for a mound.
• Robert Parker gave 100 points to 19 different 2009 Bordeaux when he tasted them in bottle.
• Parker compared the young 2009 Mouton to the 1982 at three years old and the 1959 at the same age.
• Neal Martin, tasting the 2009 blind in 2013, first suspected it might be its Pauillac neighbor Pontet-Canet.
• Baroness Philippine de Rothschild had a stage career as Philippine Pascal at the Comedie-Francaise before running Mouton.