Château Mouton-Rothschild: Premier je suis, second je fus
Baron Philippe de Rothschild must have been a driven man to have sought promotion for Château Mouton-Rothschild for so long. But there was perhaps a thorn in his side, one that may have helped with this drive, and that was Baron Elie de Rothschild (1917 – 2007). Baron Elie was a cousin of Philippe’s, but more significantly he was also the proprietor of Château Lafite-Rothschild, which was of course a first growth.
In 1952, as described in Philippe de Rothschild’s memoirs Milady Vin (Pimlico, 1985), Philippe learned that the Club of Five he had created, the members being Château Mouton-Rothschild and the four first growths, was being disbanded, with the four firsts intending to continue without him as an Association of Four. The snub – in which Elie was I assume instrumental – was a very significant one; it was certainly sufficient to reignite Philippe’s feelings that the wrong of Château Mouton-Rothschild’s ‘lowly’ second growth ranking had to be righted.
Decades of campaigning followed, with Baron Philippe Rothschild visiting and courting all the proprietors in the 1855 classification. In 1959 they met to vote, as Philippe required majority support before he could take his plans to the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine (INAO), the organisation with jurisdiction in such matters. The motion was passed, with a very slim two-vote margin. Philippe thus continued on, securing the support of the Dillon family at Château Haut-Brion, and also the proprietors of Château Latour, an English firm represented by Lord Cowdray.
