2018 Le Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild
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Tasting notes
Tasted blind. Intense, ripe but structured fruit on the nose. Full-throated, ripe fruit melded into a framework. Long and classic, ripe Pauillac. Pretty powerful. (JR)
Critic scores
James Suckling
The Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Le Petit Mouton continues a strong run for this Second Wine. It has an upfront, quite bold bouquet offering a mixture of red and black fruit, freshly tilled soil, potpourri and cedar. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins on the entry. A structured Le Petit Mouton with good grip and salinity. It becomes a little peppery toward the finish, and the graphite lingering on the aftertaste is très Pauillac. Excellent.
A brilliant effort that matches most estates' Grand Vins, the 2018 Le Petit Mouton De Mouton Rothschild (56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc) reveals a deep purple hue as well as a ripe yet fresh bouquet of crème de cassis, candied violets, graphite, lead pencil shavings, and background oak, with a touch of rocky, crushed stone-like minerality showing with time in the glass. Beautifully concentrated and full-bodied, with a solid spine of acidity and ripe polished tannins, give bottles 5-7 years, and it's going to evolve for 20-30 years or more. This is a serious, elegant yet powerful second wine.