In 1924, Baron Philippe de Rothschild decided to start bottling his wine at the château, a rare feat in those days when most properties had their wine bottled at the wine merchant they worked with. To mark the occasion, he commissioned a special label with cubist and surrealist influences designed by Jean Carlu. This attempt was too avant-garde for the era, and he had to wait until 1945 for things to change.
A tradition dating back to 1945
This tradition started in 1945 when Philippe Jullian painted an image for the chateau’s label. Other artists have since had the chance to add their work to these prestigious bottles. Notably, there was Jean Cocteau in 1947, Salvador Dalí in 1958, César in 1967, Jean Miro in 1969, Pablo Picasso in 1973, Andy Warhol in 1975, Pierre Soulages in 1976 and more recently Gu Gan in 1996, Niki de Saint Phalle in 1997, and even Jeff Koons in 2010. The crème de la crème of the art world has lent their work to each new vintage produced by the château since 1945. Historically, in exchange for using their paintings, the artists receive five cases of the vintage they illustrated and five cases of a vintage of their choice from the cellars of this Premier Grand Cru Classé.
The 2022 vintage has been revealed!
This year, the 2022 label plays homage to Baron Philippe, who took over the property in 1922. In his autobiography Vivre la Vigne published in 1981, he wondered whether the 100th anniversary of his arrival at the château would be marked and so it has.
The spectacular 2022 vintage (with an average rating of 98/100) is adorned with a label painted by the French artist Gérard Garouste. It features a portrait of the Baron and a ram, which was his emblem, either side of the château’s pediment. To create the artwork, the painter spoke to Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild (co-owner who oversees artistic and cultural projects at the château) about his grandfather’s life. “Baron Philippe was a man of great elegance, very hard-working, and he had the look of someone very sure of himself, with a mischievous side. That is what I have tried to capture in the way I have portrayed him,” explained Gérard Garouste.
A few of the great labels from the 20th century
1945: V de la Victoire placed on the label by Philippe Jullian
1947: The label is designed by Jean Cocteau
1955: Braque’s drinking pleasure
1958: Salvador Dali and the transgression of all artistic boundaries
1967: César proposes his “Mixed Work”
1969: The wittiness of Miro
1970: Chagall’s watercolour touch
And many others: Kandinsky, Picasso, Paul Delvaux, Francis Bacon, Niki de Saint Phalle, the list goes on!
Since 1981, this collection of artwork has been brought together to create the exhibition “Mouton Rothschild – Paintings for Labels” which was displayed in many museums around the world and now resides at the Château Mouton Rothschild itself.
A look back to recent labels
The 2021 bottle of this Pauillac premier grand cru classé was adorned with a label designed by the Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota. Meanwhile, Peter Doig, a Scottish painter who splits his time between London and Trinidad, was chosen to design the label for the 2020 vintage. Olafur Eliasson painted the contemporary artwork called Solar Iris of Mouton that adorns the 2019 bottles. Chinese artist and writer Xu Bing designed the 2018 label that toon inspiration from Chinese lettering but did, in fact, read Mouton Rothschild. For their 2017 vintage, Annette Messager, a French artist, created a design that bought together themes that go back to the fundamentals of our human culture
