Rothschild : A Life Well Spent

THE LOSS OF our friend Baron Philippe de Rothschild, 85, on Jan. 20, has prompted reflections of immortality. His contributions to the worlds of wine and good living will never be forgotten.

At age 20, in 1922, he was given full administrative rights to Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, which had been purchased by his great-grandfather, Baron Nathaniel, in 1853. To a student of French clarets, that date draws a tremulous alert. For the Paris International Exposition of 1855, Napoleon III trumpeted the ranking of Bordeaux vineyards in the great and enduring Classification of 1855. Mouton was, though listed first, a Second Growth, an annoying edge below Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, the First Growth wine belonging to a cousin.

Baron Philippe had arrived as a young man on a bleak November day. The two-story house beside the vineyard then had no running water, no electricity, no telephone--just candlelight, water pitchers and oil lamps. A big piece of plaster fell from the ceiling onto his bed during the night. He was often awakened by the sound of oxen going into the vineyards. As a guest of the baron, I made my first visit to Mouton in the cold, gray winter of 1951. On my first morning, I stopped beside an elderly woman, her face hidden by her large bonnet, sabots on the gravelly soil, gnarled hands pruning the gnarled vines. Wondering whether they were Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot or Malbec grapes, I asked, “What vines are these?” Her bent back straightened as much as possible. Her lips were taut as she shot back a proud answer: “Mouton, M’sieu , Mouton !”

Baron Rothschild’s lifetime devotion would elevate Mouton to a First Growth status in 1975 with the Picasso-label 1973 vintage. But perhaps his greatest enduring legacy came earlier, in 1924. Two years had revealed to him the risks involved in shipping barrels of wine to London wine merchants for bottling and resale. He talked with other estates. His cousins at Lafite turned a deaf ear to his entreaties to make chateau bottling mandatory. “Leave it alone,” they said; but with other growers he persevered and won. Today, all the great growths are chateau-bottled.

In 1945, he inaugurated decorative label strips. After the first “V” for the World War II victory vintage, the artist series of commissioned panels began, from Cocteau, Braque, Chagall, Dali and Miro to Andy Warhol and the late John Huston.

“People are always asking me,” he once told me, “ ‘What is the best wine you ever tasted?’ Easy! I’ll never forget it . . . a golden Yquem, sweet and delicious. I don’t remember the vintage, but I’ll never forget the beautiful woman for whom I poured it. She was blond and beautiful, and her eyes were blue.”

Baron Rothschild’s daughter, Philippine, a member of the esteemed Comedie Francaise, has all of her father’s quick wit, driving intelligence and engaging personality. Through her, the warmth of Mouton-Rothschild will enchant generations to come.