On 11th May 1853, Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild (1812-1870) – a member of the English branch of the family – signed the contract that made him proprietor of Château Brane-Mouton, together with 188 acres of vines in the parish of Pauillac, for the sum of 1,125,000 francs in gold.

Brane-Mouton was renamed as Mouton Rothschild.

To commemorate the centenary of Rothschild ownership of Mouton, the 1953 vintage was dedicated to Baron Nathaniel.

This was the only Mouton vintage between 1945 and 1972 not to declare on the front label the number of bottles, magnums and jeroboams produced. Instead they were shown on a small back label.

(Production levels weren’t on Mouton’s 1973 Picasso label either – but the figures were then shown uninterrupted until 1986, after which it has become a trade secret…).

The 1953 Bordeaux vintage was one of the great post-war / mid-century years for claret. It produced attractive, delicate wines that were charming when they were young, so that a lot of bottles were drunk in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

But the best examples – like Mouton – have aged exceptionally well and gained another dimension of flavours and smoothness over the years (especially in 1.5-litre magnum bottles)…