Château Mouton-Rothschild: Vineyards
Château Mouton-Rothschild is located on a slow gravel rise to the north and west of the town of Pauillac, behind a small network of narrow streets collectively known as Le Pouyalet. This is the same gravel rise on which Château Lafite-Rothschild sits, the Lafite vineyards lying to the north. Near neighbours for Château Mouton-Rothschild also include Château d’Armailhac, another Rothschild asset; this château (actually, a curious ‘half’-château) sits just 200 metres from Château Mouton-Rothschild, the two essentially part of the same viticultural ‘complex’. The vineyards tend to lie to the east and the south, along with those of Château Pontet-Canet. The other Rothschild domaine, Château Clerc-Milon, is also to the east, on the far side of Lhorte and Le Pouyalet. To the west lies Château Duhart-Milon as well as some more parcels belonging to Château Lafite-Rothschild.
The vast majority of the Château Mouton-Rothschild vineyards lie to the west of the château and chai on the Grand Plateau. These vineyards interdigitate with those of Lafite-Rothschild to the north, and indeed as recently as 1927 – I assume before relations between the two became really frosty – it was not unknown for Mouton-Rothschild and Lafite-Rothschild to exchange plots of vines without other payment. The Mouton-Rothschild vines run across the Grand Plateau, down a gentle dip and then up onto the Carruades Plateau, famous as a source of fruit for the grand vin of Château Lafite-Rothschild (and not the second wine Carruades de Lafite, despite the suggestive name).
