2022 Château Mouton-Rothschild - 3er OHK

The 2022 Mouton Rothschild is a huge, enveloping wine. Inky dark fruit, spice, chocolate, mocha, new leather and licorice are amplified with dramatic intensity. A wine of volume and breadth, the 2022 is super-concentrated and generous. At the outset, I thought the 2022 resembled the 1986. From bottle, it most definitely does not. The tannins are softer, while the Cabernet Sauvignon savoriness, such a signature of the 1986, is hidden under the wine's baby fat, notwithstanding a blend built on 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, very high for Mouton. That said, it is extremely hard to compare wines across eras, given how much has changed since the 1980s. The 2022 Mouton Rothschild is a potent, explosive Pauillac that will need a number of years to be at its best and most expressive.

- Antonio Galloni (01/2025)

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. (01/2025)

Moving to the flagship, the 2022 Château Mouton Rothschild is a massive, full-bodied, incredibly powerful 2022 that takes no prisoners with its ripe black and blue fruits, chocolate, graphite, and smoked tobacco-driven aromas and flavors. Deep, unctuous, and concentrated, with velvety tannins, this legendary Mouton is based on 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot that's still resting in new barrel. It will unquestionably play with the top wines in the vintage. Harvest here began the 1st of September and finished on the 26th, and the final wine hit 14% natural alcohol, with a pH of 3.89 and an IPT of 76. (05/2023)

The 2022 Mouton Rothschild, 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot, is aging in 100% new oak. Deep garnet-purple in color, it is incredibly closed to start off, needing a lot of shaking to wake up subtle notes of blackcurrant jelly, ripe blackberries, and fresh mulberries, leading to hints of espresso, crushed rocks, iris bulb, and star anise. Compared with the nose, the mouth wows with explosive, intense flavors of cassis, black cherries, and licorice that fill the palate, framed by very firm, beautifully ripe tannins and a lively backbone, finishing very long with mineral and floral sparks. It is amazing how classical this Mouton this is, considering the extreme vintage. A legend in the making. pH 3.89, TPI 76. (05/2023)

A brilliant wine that likely sits somewhere between the 2019 and 2020 in quality, the 2022 Mouton Rothschild is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot. Unwinding in the glass with complex aromas of minty cassis, cigar wrapper, violets and subtle hints of loamy soil, it's full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a layered core of fruit and a fleshy, elegantly muscular profile. Broad-shouldered and seamless, it concludes with a long, resonant finish. This year the grand vin represents some 49% of the estate's production.

- William Kelley (04/2023)