The Rothschilds made great wines in 2019. After tasting Lafite 2019 on May 15 with Eric Kohler over Zoom, a week later James tasted Mouton Rothschild 2019 barrel samples at James Suckling Wine Central with owner Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and Managing Director Philippe Dhalluin, also over Zoom.

He also tasted the other five wines in the Mouton stable. The star of the session was certainly the Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac 2019, which James described as having power but also finesse, and showing purity of fruit with blackcurrants and cassis and hints of blueberries and fresh flowers.

“The tannins are very fine-grained and there’s a real purity of fruit,” James said. “The cabernet sauvignon character, the current and cassis and lead pencil really come through.”

Comparing the Mouton 2019 to past vintages, Dhalluin said: “There is a hint of the 2010. The richness, and the freshness and the tannins. What I don’t know yet is if the 2019 is as powerful as the 2010. But they are similar. I think we have more freshness this year.”

The tasting covered six 2019 wines in total, all owned by Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and his brother and sister. Also tasted were the Le Petit Mouton, Aile d’Argent Bordeaux Blanc, Pastourelle de Clerc Milon, Château Clerc Milon Pauillac and Château d’Armailhac.

“It’s one of these rare vintages where you say hold on, we have a bit of it, but let’s wait one or two or three years and keep trying it and drinking it, and see how it evolves,” said Sereys de Rothschild. “The mystery is there, and that’s what I really like about these vintages.”

The tasting is part of an extensive en primeur tasting campaign being conducted by James. Read the report here, which covered almost 1,000 wines.

Watch the videos below for some highlights of our tasting session, and see the scores and notes below the videos.

This is part of an extensive en primeur tasting campaign being conducted by James, which has already covered 1,000 wines, with more to come. The reports are listed below:

Bordeaux en primeur first report: A potentially challenging vintage
Bordeaux en primeur second report: 1,000 notes and scores
Pricing report: Pontet-Canet’s decision to slash its prices