Mouton Rothschild barrel room
Mouton Rothschild barrel room.
(Image credit: Decanter (2017))

Château Mouton Rothschild 2023, considered a potential 100-point wine by Decanter’s Georgie Hindle, joined the trend for year-on-year price cuts in the Bordeaux en primeur campaign after being released at €324 per bottle ex-négociant on Monday 6 May.

That’s a 37.2% discount on the opening price of Mouton 2022 a year ago, according to Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, and UK merchants were offering the wine at £4,068 per 12-bottle case in bond (IB).

Angélus 2023 has also been released, with a 25.7% discount on the opening price of its 2022 vintage, at €260 per bottle ex-négociant.

These latest big-name releases come shortly after Decanter published its full verdict on the Bordeaux 2023 vintage, completed with tasting notes and ratings on the top-scoring wines.

Subscribe to Decanter Premium to read analysis of Bordeaux 2023 releases and see our tasting notes and scores on hundreds of wines.

Mouton 2023 was released ex-négociant at a bigger year-on-year discount that many merchants were expecting, suggested a Liv-ex survey.

Respondents predicted that Mouton 2023 would emerge at around 25% below the en primeur price of the 2022 vintage.

In the Bordeaux 2023 verdict report by Hindle, Mouton was one of only a few wines to achieve a score range of 98 to 100 points – indicating its potential to be a 100-point wine in future, and once bottled.

‘Tannins have built a broad wine and this is a real success with lots of energy and vibrancy,’ wrote Hindle, adding the 2023 blend includes 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, the second highest proportion of Cabernet in any vintage except for 2010.

Among recent vintages, Mouton 2020 and Mouton 2018 have both received 100-point scores in-bottle from Decanter. 

At £4,068 (12x75cl IB), merchants were broadly positive on the price. ‘We have had [buyer] interest as it is a lower price than any other vintage on the market today,’ said Thomas Parker MW, buyer at Farr Vintners.

Lay & Wheeler buying director Beth Pearce MW said in a note to customers, ‘Released at £2,034 per case of six bottles, it enters the market around the lowest price of any existent vintage available today. With a slew of high scores, that makes it a very attractive prospect.’ 

It remains to be seen, of course, how much wine will be sold across the Bordeaux 2023 en primeur campaign as a whole, particularly in a challenging fine wine market that has seen significant buyer caution.

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade trading platform at Bordeaux Index, told Decanter that Mouton 2023 attracted some interest from collectors, similar to Lafite 2023’s release last week.

He added, though, ‘We would describe the demand as good but not outsized by any means, likely driven by strong recent vintages being broadly in the same price area.’

Farr Vintners listed Lafite Rothschild 2023 as ‘sold out’, following its release last week, with Mouton 2023 down to ‘low stock’. It was not immediately clear what proportion of the vintage was being released en primeur by different estates.

Château Angélus 2023 release

Château Angélus 2023 was released at €260 per bottle ex-négociant this morning (7 May), which is down 25.7% on the release price of the leading St-Emilion estate’s 2022 vintage last year, according to Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade.

It was being offered by UK merchants at £3,120 per 12-bottle case in bond (IB) on Tuesday morning (7 May).

‘That’s around 27% down on last year, though still higher than the current market price of [Angélus] 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016 and 2015,’ said UK merchant Farr Vintners.

Hindle gave Angélus 2023 97 points, praising its ‘subtle opulence’, as well as its graphite tones, plush fruit and ‘backbone of freshness’.

This puts Angélus 2023 on the same level as the Château’s 2022 and 2020 vintages, which both also received 97-point Decanter scores. Angélus 2019 sits slightly above, on 98 points.

One aspect to consider is the evolution of Angélus in recent years. The estate withdrew from the St-Emilion Classification, but has also ‘increasingly prized freshness and elegance over power’, said Lay & Wheeler’s Pearce in a note to customers.

However, both Lay & Wheeler and Thomas Parker MW, buyer at Farr Vintners, described Angélus 2023 as ‘hard to recommend’ to customers, given the lower price of several well-regarded back-vintages.

Lay & Wheeler said it would only be purchasing the wine ’to order’. Liv-ex, meanwhile, said that Angélus 2015 and 2019 could be interesting for any buyers seeking alternatives to the 2023 en primeur wine.

Other new releases

A flurry of releases emerged at the beginning of the Bordeaux 2023 en primeur campaign’s second week; suggesting that forecasts of a relatively short, quick campaign will prove to be accurate.

Several other wines from the Mouton stable have also been released. Lay & Wheeler highlighted Château Clerc Milon 2023 (95 points, Decanter) as a recommended buy for customers seeking great value at a lower price-point, and it offered the wine at £330 per six-bottle case (IB).

Malartic-Lagravière 2023 red, highlighted by Decanter as one of the Pessac-Léognan successes in the vintage, was released at around £318 (12x75cl IB), according to Farr Vintners.

Château Lafon-Rochet 2023 emerged with an ex-négociant price 19% below the 2022-vintage release, at €27.50 per bottle, and it was offered by UK merchants at £330 (12x75cl IB), according to Liv-ex.

However, Liv-ex added in its analysis that, while the 2023 wine was cheaper than last year’s release, it was still above the cost of several other back-vintages. It suggested that buyers seeking value might consider the 2020 vintage.

Chris Mercer
Chris Mercer

Chris Mercer is a Bristol-based freelance editor and journalist who spent nearly four years as digital editor of Decanter.com, having previously been Decanter’s news editor across online and print.

He has written about, and reported on, the wine and food sectors for more than 10 years for both consumer and trade media.

Chris first became interested in the wine world while living in Languedoc-Roussillon after completing a journalism Masters in the UK. These days, his love of wine commonly tests his budgeting skills.

Beyond wine, Chris also has an MSc in food policy and has a particular interest in sustainability issues. He has also been a food judge at the UK’s Great Taste Awards.