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.
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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.
The 1982 vintage features a work by American film director and visual artist, John Huston (1906-1987) and commemorates the sixtieth harvest at Mouton Rothschild. Sensual, graceful, using deep, warm colours, it returns in representational style to the symbolic theme of the Ram, leaping in dionysiac joy, accompanied by its inseparable companions, the sun and the vine. This watercolour is one of the last pictures John Huston ever painted.
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
‘The 1982 Mouton Rothschild is one that I have not met for quite a while, but it was a pleasure to be reacquainted. Whilst it can sometimes be a little too exuberant, I found this bottle beautifully refined with melted red fruit, red plum and wild strawberry, tobacco and freshly picked mint. Hints of black truffle emerge with time. The palate has mellowed in recent years, arguably borrowing some of Lafite’s refinement. Pliant in texture, there is more transparency to this Mouton and whilst it perhaps does not quite have the nobility of the 1982 Latour, it is just a sublime First Growth that gives immense satisfaction.’ - Neal Martin, Vinous, 98/100 (Mar 2022)
‘The 1982 Mouton Rothschild is drinking brilliantly today, soaring from the glass with aromas of cassis, dark berry fruit, charcoal, pencil shavings, espresso roast and loamy soil. Full-bodied, ample and enveloping, it's a layered, sumptuous wine that's remarkably seamless and complete, with impressive concentration, ripe but lively acids and fine, melting tannins. Long and resonant, this is a great wine that can keep company with the likes of Mouton's 1961, 1959 and 1955.’ - William Kelley, Wine Advocate, 100/100 (Feb 2022)
‘More structured and less opulent than the 1990 in magnum that preceded it, it was hugely impressive and gave the impression of still having a glorious life ahead of it. Beautiful balance and the purest of classics yet with the intensity of Mouton.’ - Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, 19/20 (Sept 2019)
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