2001 An award - Decanter – UK Giving an award and five stars to Château Mouton Rothschild 2001, Decanter rediscovers the wine and its characteristics, describing it in the following terms: "Exotic, spicy and rich. Very explosive Cabernet fruit. Deep spice and rich, almost ripe tannins. Really smooth and rich" , adding "Very good balance for depth of fruit". (August 2005) "A complex and intense nose"– Euposia – ITALY "A complex and intense nose, an incredibly soft tannic structure, a lingering finish" are the terms used by the Italian magazine Euposia to describe Château Mouton Rothschild 2001, which it gives a score of 19/20. (March 2005) "Incredible smoothness" - La Revue du Vin de France – FRANCE The September 2004 issue of La Revue du Vin de France comments on the "incredible smoothness and unique softness of the tannin" of Château Mouton Rothschild 2001, concluding: "A dream of a wine, at the pinnacle of the vintage in Bordeaux." (September 2004) "A dream of a wine" - Carnets de Dégustation - FRANCE Château Mouton Rothschild 2001 was awarded the excellent score of 9.5 by wine writers Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve in their February 1994 Carnets de Dégustation. Of the wine, tasted at the Château, they write: "its incredible smoothness and the softness of its tannins, unique for this vintage, seem to make it even more of a world-beater than when we tasted it en primeur", concluding that it is "a dream of a wine, made and matured to perfection, and, with Lafite, unarguably the pinnacle of the vintage in Bordeaux." (February 16, 2004) "Tannins with superb potential" - Fleurus wine guide - FRANCE In its tasting notes for Château Mouton Rothschild 2001, the 2004 edition of the Fleurus wine guide mention its "purple colour", the "concentrated black fruit and smoke aromas" on the nose and the "rich body and tannins with superb potential". The guide recommends waiting until at least 2010 before drinking the wine, which will be at its peak from 2012. (September 2003) 5 stars for the 2001 vintage - Decanter - UNITED KINDOM The website of the English wine magazine Decanter published the tasting notes of their journalist Steven Spurrier, sent to Bordeaux to taste the 2001 vintage. Only two of the First Growths, one of them Château Mouton Rothschild, gain the maximum score of 5 stars. Spurrier writes: "Huge colour, really intense and black, big tobaccoey nose with lots of cassis fruit, already explosive on the nose with a great richness on the palate…. Will turn out very complex and perhaps finer than the more voluptuous 2000". (April 8, 2002) A very fine Mouton - Tasting Notes - FRANCE Wine critics Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve tasted a barrel sample of Château Mouton Rothschild as part of their 2001 round of primeur tastings. In their published Tasting Notes they give the wine a score of 9/10, describing it as follows: "The wine has a very deep colour and expresses a whole range of ripe berry fruit on the nose, sustained by unostentatious, patrician oak. Lush and rich, with great depth, in an opulent style […], it is a very fine, classic and long Mouton, comparable in volume to the 1998." (April 2002) Utterly enchanting - Vinum - SWISS The magazine Vinum gives the excellent score of 17.5 out of 20 to Château Mouton Rothschild 2001, tasted from the barrel. "Superb nose of vanilla and cherry, it begins more impressively than it ends, but what fruit! The tannins are perfectly rounded, solid, juicy, tender and long: absolutely in the Mouton style…Utterly enchanting." (April 2002) A BABY 1986 - Wine Spectator - UNITED STATES "Loads of tobacco, berry mineral and currant character. Full-bodied with firm tannins and a long, long finish. Solid and very, very fine … A baby 1986…" is how James Suckling for the Wine Spectator described a barrel sample of Château Mouton Rothschild 2001 (March 22, 2002).