Château Mouton Rothchild
Pauillac 1988

It was more than a year ago that I had this Mouton Rothchild '88 (with Jill, yes). At that time I didn't know what Mouton means to the world and to make matters even worse, it was a week or so after we had Latour '95 (many people called it a crime, as you may imagine). We knew both belong to a class called grands-vins. We found both of them good, but in totally different ways. Latour '95 was young, fresh and powerful, as a matter of course, while Mouton was a more vague, obscure, subtle wine. Jill liked Mouton better, but I didn't know what to say about Mouton. I just couldn't understand it.

Now I think that is what Mouton is. Mouton is more vague, less straightforward. Latour and Mouton are both profound, of course, but Mouton's depth is not a straight one. Certainly, Mouton is more complicated in that way compared with other Pauillac wines.

The other day, a couple (the one with whom we shared Latour '82 and '87, see the page on Latour) invited me a party where I was offered Clerc-Milon '90. We had had Las-Cases and Chasse-Spleen and some burgundy for red that night, and Clerc-Milon was the only Pauillac red. On smelling and tasting it a bit, some argued that it smelled and tasted like a Saint-Julien rather than a Pauillac wine. I had the same impression, but more precisely, we should say it smells and tastes like Mouton rather than other Pauillacs.