Some vineyards have deliberately set out to produce art on their labels and this is the story of one of them, Chateau Mouton Rothschild.
In 1853, Baron Nathaniel Rothschild (1812-1870), a member of the English branch of the Rothschilds, purchased the Mouton estate from a Paris banker named Thuret who had previously bought it from Baron Hector de Branne in 1830.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild had managed the property since 1922 and became the proprietor on the death of his father Henri in 1947. Under his leadership the Chateau Mouton Rothschild has expanded to some 150+ hectares in production by acquiring Chateau Mouton Baron Pauline (sometimes known as Mouton Baron Philippe or Mouton d�Armailhacq) and Chateau Clerc-Milon.
Mouton requires some 140 permanent staff to look after the estate but because of the policy of Mouton to harvest the whole of the 150 hectares as quickly as possible, they bus in some 600 extra workers from Bordeaux and Pauillac.
To celebrate the end of the war in 1945, it was decided to crown the label of that vintage with a "V" for Victory drawn by a young artist called Philippe Jullian. This started a tradition and from 1946 every year (except 1953 and 1977) a contemporary artist has been invited to create the label for the vintage of that year.
This was the era when commercial art was looked upon more favourably and artists such as Jean Cocteau, L�onor Fini, Jean Hugo, Marie Laurencin and Carzou, some personal friends of Baron Philippe, took up the challenge.
1953, the hundredth birthday of the acquisition of Chateau Mouton was celebrated by using a portrait of Baron Nathaniel on the label.
The great sculptors, Lippold, Henry Moore, C�sar and Arman also contributed their work and since 1974 more and more foreign artists such as Motherwell, Andy Warhol, Delvaux, Baselitz, Bacon and Setsuko have all answered the call and produced a work of art for Mouton Rothschild.
The owners of Mouton have always respected the freedom of creation of the artists although some artists included certain themes, the vine, the pleasure of drink, and the emblem of the Rothschild ram.
The artists don�t get paid money for their contributions but in cases of Mouton Rothschild, of their vintage of course.
The Picasso label of 1973 also commemorates the granting of Premier Cru classification to Mouton Rothschild and from 1975 the labels give details of the vintage including the number of bottles, magnums, jerebaums and imperials produced. All the labels also bear the signature of Baron Philippe de Rothschild.
I think you will agree that if you are looking for a single Chateau or theme of label to collect, you will have something unique if you choose Chateau Mouton Rothschild.
