Mouton Rothschild 2000

Another rather vexing performance of the millennial Mouton. My main complaint is the dominance of oak on the nose that is smothering the sense of terroir and the delineation one would expect. The palate is medium-bodied with good balance, quite cohesive and yet lacking the tension and precision one would have hoped for. It develops some attractive mulberry and plumy notes with time in glass, but it is a First Growth that never really takes off. Tasted February 2011.

Score: 90

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 01 May 2011

The 2000 Mouton Rothschild is at its best with about 24-48 hours of decanting. A blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot, the wine offers a saturated ruby/purple color in addition to reticent but promising aromas of toast, coffee, licorice, creme de cassis, and roasted nuts. Dense, chewy, and backward, with tremendous purity and density in addition to obvious toasty oak, it is full-bodied, powerful, tannic, and backward. Twenty-four to 48 hours of aeration only hints at its ultimate potential. This blockbuster will be exceptionally long-lived. It is not as expressive as the other first-growth Medocs, but give it time. As I predicted in my first report on the millennium vintage (April, 2001), Philippine de Rothschild could be expected to do something special with her presentation of 2000. She has exceeded everyone's expectations with a work of art. Those who have seen the extraordinary packaging of the 2000 Mouton Rothschild must certainly realize this is a brilliant achievement. The bottle is extraordinary, and likely to have nearly as much value empty as full! Her genius is obvious, but it's what's inside that counts! Anticipated maturity: 2015-2050+.

Score: 97

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2015-2050+ 01 April 2003

The 2000 is a blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot, and the wine comprises 80% of the production, which averaged 35 hectoliters per hectare. A potentially immortal wonder, Mouton's 2000 is so thick, it almost needs to be drunk with a spoon. At the same time, it has brutally high tannin. There is a lot going on in this backward effort, including phenomenal concentration and extract, and a huge nose of smoke, creme de cassis, truffles, and new saddle leather. A wine of enormous constitution and awesome power, but neophytes and readers unwilling to invest twenty years of cellaring should look elsewhere. If the tannin becomes more integrated, and the wine increasingly seamless, it will merit its lofty rating. However, if the tannin becomes more abrasive, or the wine totally shuts down, the score will drop.

Score: 96 - 98

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2020-2060 01 April 2001

Full medium ruby. Exotic aromas of cassis, roast coffee and sweet oak. Sweet, thick and oaky, with superb breadth of flavor; at once chewy and smooth. An impressively rich, ripe, oaky Mouton with palate-staining length and strong finishing oakiness. But less noble and scented than the young 2002, which may be every bit as dense.

Score: 94

Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar 01 May 2003