Category Archives: Bordeaux

Great Minds Drink Alike

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Surfing the web tonight, I discovered a very cool reason to justify my unwarranted affinity to the flavours in Mouton Rothschild wines!

From the many Bordeaux I’ve been ever so lucky to try, I’ve always seemed to enjoy Pauillac wines more than most, Mouton properties especially, for some reason.

Clerc-Milon, d’Armailhac – you can see I saved up to purchase a few goodies for my collection – I suppose I’m a sucker for full-bodied Cabernet-heavy blends with a bit of meat to them; perhaps I’m a Médoc girl through and through.

However, little did I know Mouton and I have some artistic taste in common!

Check out this inaugural artist’s label from Château Mouton Rothschild’s 1945 wine by commissioned artist Philippe Jullian. I had never seen this until today.

Look at the similarities between my Veni Vini Vici logo and the central V on the label – it even sits on a crown of laurels like the image I created!

I'm not one to rest on my laurels, but...

Jullian must have been onto something back then. After all, he was paid in Mouton wine for his label art. Certainly he must have savoured some liquid inspiration!

I, for one, can definitely appreciate the bottle’s beauty, inside and out.

More on Château Mouton Rothschild’s annual artist’s labels

http://www.theartistlabels.com/

Mouton Cadet 2006 Bordeaux

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With only three minutes to go until my local liquor store closed – and believe me, the clerks were counting it down to the second – I dashed inside to make a snap decision on tonight’s wine.

Recognizing the label’s stylized ram’s head atop a bunch of grapes and seeing a discount shelftalker, I immediately reached out for a bottle of Mouton Rothschild’s remnant juice of remnant juice, hoping that perhaps it may give me at least one iota of insight into the 2006 Bordeaux vintage that is soon to be available in BC.

I had heard that 2006 Bordeaux wines reveal layers of subtlety and finesse, with many being drinkable now, as opposed to the hailed 2005 vintage – brash, bold and made to stand the test of time.

I’m very happy to claim ownership of roughly 15 bottles of 2005 from various châteaux, including Clerc-Milon, d’Aiguilhe and Guiraud (Sauternes). These 05s are like the good-looking high school quarterbacks who you know will get through life with no qualms about aging, no physical ailments, no problems with social ineptitude.

On the other hand, the 06s are the kids spending lunch in the computer lab, playing World of Warcraft; they’re also the hair-dyed-black beatniks poring over Jack Kerouac titles while their peers are busy ripping through the latest issue of Tiger Beat. You know that one day these folks will likely become upstanding citizens, some perhaps even great influencers. But they had a slightly more troubled upbringing and take some coaxing to come out of their shell. Many just need time to mature into their full potential.

This latter type of youngster is sort of what I gather the Mouton Cadet 2006 Bordeaux to resemble.

Mouton Cadet 2006 Bordeaux

Tasting Notes

With a bouquet of wet gravel and raspberries packed into a cedar box, this wine evokes the fall flavours of dank trees and soft berries on the tongue. A bit briny. Relatively low acidity and tannins suggest that this is a wine to drink now, no decanting required. A light-bodied Bordeaux with an oaky finish that would be a refreshing red against savoury pork dishes such as the famous Szechuan (Sichuan) dish Wui Wor Yuk (Hui Guo Rou), or Korean Jeyuk BoSsam – boiled pork wrapped in boiled Napa cabbage with kimchi and oysters. Light enough to pair with turkey, this could also be a decent Thanksgiving dinner wine. $15