Johannesburg Auction Week
Live Virtual Auction, 6 November 2022
Coats Family Cellar | Iconic Bordeaux
About the SessionThe Coats Family Cellar is arguably the most prestigious fine wine collection ever offered in South Africa. It contains a deep collection of the worlds finest, most sought-after wines, spanning over 150 years. Collected over many decades, the cellar was imported from Ireland to South Africa via reefer. Each bottle within the Coats Family Cellar was authenticated by Michael Egan in August 2022 and given an ID number for tracking.
About this Item
Château Mouton Rothschild is not only one of the finest Bordeaux wines, but it is also one of the world’s greatest. The First Growth from Pauillac holds an incredible track record for the most consistent and long-lived wines in all of Bordeaux. It can be argued that the modern age of Chateau Mouton Rothschild arose along with the modernization of the entire Bordeaux wine region.
Each year since 1945, the Château Mouton Rothschild label has been illustrated with an artwork by a leading painter, specially created for the vintage. Thus, the most famous names in contemporary painting have been brought together in a collection to which a new work is added each year. From one label to another, Mouton Rothschild has thus brought together some of the most celebrated artists of their day, including Miró, Chagall, Braque, Picasso, Tàpies, Francis Bacon, Dali, Balthus, Jeff Koons and even Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. The artists have complete freedom of creation, though certain themes, such as the vine, the pleasure of drinking and the ram, the Mouton Rothschild emblem, have proved a particularly rich source of inspiration.
For 2000, in an exceptional departure from this tradition, Baroness Philippine has not commissioned a painter. The bottle “in person” has become a collector’s item, its very glass adorned with a treasure from the Museum of Wine in Art at Mouton: the little “Augsburg Ram”, a chased silver-gilt drinking vessel created around 1590 by Jakob Schenauer, a German master goldsmith.
In order to reproduce all the refinement and lustre of the original work, after four months of research, the glassmaker B.S.N. came up with a new technique for enamelling in relief, calling for custom-made tools and work of the utmost precision. The particularly complex method for firing the gold and enamel has produced a scintillating texture and an incomparable capacity to catch the light.
A golden ring around the black foil reproduces the design engraved on the ram’s collar and recalls the chased volutes of its body. The arms, the name, the vintage and the owner’s signature have been screen-printed in gold. The bottle, of high-quality, heavy glass, has been slightly remodelled at the shoulder in the shape of a truncated cone. As proof of its authenticity, the Château Mouton Rothschild name is engraved in the base.
Provenance
The Coats Family Cellar is arguably the most prestigious fine wine collection ever offered in South Africa. It contains a deep collection of the worlds finest, most sought-after wines, spanning over 150 years. Collected over many decades, the cellar was imported from Ireland to South Africa via reefer. Each bottle within the Coats Family Cellar was authenticated by Michael Egan in August 2022 and given an ID number for tracking.
Michael Egan is a world-expert in fine and rare wines with more than thirty five years of experience. He was the principal expert for the plaintiff in the two major wine counterfeiting trials in Koch v. Eric Greenberg and United States v. Rudy Kurniawan, both of which occurred in 2013.
Along with Michael Egan, the Strauss & Co Fine Wine team have tasted extensively through the cellar and are confident of the wine storage and hence quality. The entire collection is currently stored at Wine Cellar.
Critics Ratings
‘A little more open than the other four Firsts in the vintage, with undergrowth, baked earth and gentle spice alongside the truffles, smoked caramel, spice and bilberry fruits. It shows plenty of the trademark Mouton generosity and ripe tannic structure and is lusciously textured. This came in at 80% 1st wine. It wasn't until Philippe Dhalluin arrived a few years later that production for the 1st wine would be lowered, with significantly more Petit Mouton being made (Lafite and Latour both closer to 50% 1st wine for similar sized estates). That's not to say that you won't be thrilled to open and drink this wine, and it will undoubtedly show that same stubborn unwillingness to fade away that the First Growths all share. 100% new oak.’ - Jane Anson, Decanter, 96/100 (Jul 2020)
‘Deep garnet colored with a touch of brick, the 2000 Mouton Rothschild (composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot) boldly bursts from the glass with tantalizing Black Forest cake, dried mulberries, kirsch and blackcurrant pastilles notes plus wafts of iodine, incense, potpourri and cinnamon stick with a hint of cigar boxes. Medium to full-bodied, the palate packs in the muscular fruit, framed by firm, ripe, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with phenomenal length. This is an incredibly complex and multifaceted wine, and it's drinking deliciously now. This said, I can’t help but feel that it is holding something back, that it still has another layer of opulence and seduction to reveal in its tight-knit fruit and solid structure. I personally can’t wait to see how this beauty will continue to unfold over the years to come.’ - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate, 97+/100 (Oct 2019)
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