Château Mouton Rothschild 1er Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2011

The 2011 Mouton Rothschild is not among the estate's most celebrated releases of its generation, and those looking for the theatrical scale of 2009 or 2010 will need to look elsewhere. What the 2011 offers is something more quietly admirable: a perfectly correct, honest, and well-proportioned First Growth Pauillac from a vintage that tested the best producers. Dark fruit, cedar, and the distinctive Mouton Cabernet character on the nose; a palate of good structure and length with the estate's characteristic concentration at its core. An authentic expression of the appellation in a more modest year.