98 JS / 95 VM / 95 WCI / 94+ JD / 94 JA / 94 DE / 93 WA / 17.5 JR
#92 James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of France 2023
Lots of violets, blackberries, bark and iodine. Oyster shell. Full-bodied. Firm and velvety tannins with a long and satisfying finish. Juicy and reserved at the end. Chewy and soft. Needs time to open. First growth. 72% cabernet sauvignon, 24% merlot and 4% cabernet franc. Drink after 2030. - James Suckling
The 2020 Le Petit-Mouton is fabulous. Dark red plum, blood orange, pomegranate, mint and cinnamon all build as this flamboyant, striking Petit Mouton shows off its considerable charms. Even with the high percentage of Cabernet, the 2020 is supple and quite soft for a young wine. Bright acids perk up the mid-palate, leading to the brilliant, sculpted finish. This has come together beautifully with élevage. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media
Black currants, cedar, flowers, spice, tobacco, and dried fruits create the nose. On the palate, the wine is fresh, mineral-driven, vibrant, and chewy with a core of red pit and red berries that stick with verve and tenacity. The mid-palate and finish continue in the same direction with a strong essence of minerality that accompanies the fruit. The wine blends 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc, 13.1% ABV. Drink from 2026-2040.-Jeff Leve, Wine Cellar Insider
The 2020 Le Petit Mouton De Mouton Rothschild showed beautifully and is certainly up with the top second wines out there. In fact, it’s better than the Grand Vins of many châteaux. Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller amounts of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, aged 18 months in 50% new French oak, it offers a rich, powerful, concentrated, and medium to full-bodied style as well as ample darker currant and cassis fruits, some tobacco and spicy oak, a great mid-palate, and outstanding length on the finish. It’s approachable today yet will benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and evolve for at least two decades. - Jeb Dunnuck
This delivers the expected glamour of Petit Mouton, although more reserved than in vintages such as 2015 or 2018. It retains a silk and satin touch to the tannins, and a ton of black cherry puree, spiced cocoa bean, coffee, liqourice root and campfire smoke. Deep, rich and enticing, the tannins are ripe but they have intent – this is a Petit Mouton to age. Think 8 to 10 years minimum. 50% new oak. Harvest September 7 to 24.-Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux
Smells wonderful, perfumed, herbal, milk chocolate, ripe blackberries, cherries and blackcurrants, quite soft and a tad shy but you get a sense of fullness on the nose. Supple, beautifully balanced and textured, round but direct, it’s not overt or too big but just settles in the right places. Really elegant and classy, just so easy to enjoy moving from start to finish with persistence and confidence. It's not trying too hard and nothing feels pushed with an overall gorgeous tetue, weight, balance, and push still with excellent acidity, ripe fruits and an element of minerality that cleans the tongue. Sharp, serious and long. A great wine that's a joy to taste.-Georgina Hindle, Decanter
The 2020 Le Petit Mouton benefits from the fact that the grand vin this year derives almost exclusively from the estate's core gravel terraces, meaning that many parcels that were included in, for example, the 2018 Mouton ended up in the Petit Mouton in 2020. Offering up aromas of cassis, cigar wrapper and violets, it's medium to full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with a broad attack and a layered, concentrated mid-palate. - William Kelley, Wine Advocate
Tasted blind. Deep crimson. Dark, pure, savoury and smoky. Oaky, too. Smells so pure despite the oak sweetness. Really fine tannins, extremely pure with tannic finesse. Harmonious, the power hidden under an elegant exterior.-Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson
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