Château Mouton-Rothschild: Brane-Mouton
It was Joseph de Brane (died 1769), the son of Baron Bertrand de Brane, an influential adviser to the French crown, who acquired what we know today as Château Mouton-Rothschild. When Baron Joseph purchased the relevant seigneurie from Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur he found himself the new owner of a small vineyard but no significant buildings (other than a few farm outbuildings), as these had been sold to Dominique Armailhacq, at that time proprietor of what is now Château d’Armailhac; Dominique had been quick to take advantage of Mouton’s cachet by renaming his own estate Mouton-Armailhacq, and Joseph also renamed his new acquisition, christening it Brane-Mouton (sometimes written as Branne-Mouton). He also set to work on the vineyard, driving forward a programme of expansion, with large areas committed to the vine for the first time; this was really the beginning of the Château Mouton-Rothschild that we know today.
Under the tenure of Baron Joseph de Brane, the reputation of the Mouton estate grew; records show that although prices lagged behind those for Lafite (which fetched 1500 livres per tonneau; the livre was the currency that predated the franc, and one tonneau was 900 litres) and Latour (1800 livres per tonneau) by some considerable distance, by the late 18th century they were on a par with those for wines from other respected vineyards such as Pichon (400 to 600 livres per tonneau), the forerunner of the modern day Château Pichon-Baron and Château Pichon-Lalande.
