LONDON.- On 4 February 2027, Sotheby's will present Château Mouton Rothschild: Paintings for the Labels — 100th Anniversary Commemorative Release, a landmark auction drawn directly from the château's cellars celebrating 100 years of the pioneering artist-label tradition begun by Jean Carlu in 1924. The sale will include both the inaugural 1924 vintage and the 2024 vintage, whose artist-label will be unveiled on 1 December 2026.

Marking a milestone in the history of the artist labels, a tradition carried forward by three generations of the family and now one of the defining expressions of Mouton Rothschild's identity, the sale brings together historic vintages, a limited number of previously unreleased large formats and commemorative lots, alongside a barrel of the 2025 vintage.

Anchoring the sale is a selection of offerings created exclusively for the centenary celebration, including tribute lots honouring the Rothschild family's rich legacy, formats hand-signed by the artists, and an extraordinary series of 'surprise' lots created especially for the auction (details to be revealed in due course). Select Super lots and specially themed offerings will include an invitation to an exclusive Centenary Celebration Gala Dinner at Château Mouton Rothschild on 12 June 2027.

Carrying an estimated value of £1.9 – 3.1 million, the sale will unfold across five chapters: The Contemporary Expression; Centenary Celebration; The Future; The Artistic Dialogue; and Origins & Legacy.

Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, CEO of Baron Philippe de Rothschild and co-owner of Château Mouton Rothschild, said: "We want to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the first label illustrated by an artist, Jean Carlu in 1924, with lovers of fine wines and contemporary art by sharing with them the finest and rarest bottles from the estate's cellars. This auction is both a journey through Mouton's history and a consecration of the deep bond between Château Mouton Rothschild and art. It is especially important for us, both personally and emotionally, because it also traces the history of our family through a succession of iconic vintages. It will undoubtedly be a particularly intense occasion, filled with joy, enthusiasm and passion."

Nick Pegna, Global Head of Wine & Spirits, Sotheby's, said: "For a century, Château Mouton Rothschild has stood at the intersection of two great creative pursuits: winemaking and art. This extraordinary sale celebrates the vision first set in motion with Jean Carlu's pioneering 1924 label and traces the remarkable artistic legacy that followed. Bringing together historic wines direct from the château, previously unreleased formats and a series of bespoke creations produced exclusively for this centenary, the auction offers collectors a once-in-a-generation opportunity to engage with one of the most celebrated stories in the world of wine."

I. The Contemporary Expression
Vintages 2000-2023

The auction opens with contemporary vintages in a range of formats, including rare Super lots combining bottles and large formats, some never previously released. Highlights include the 2000 (the Augsburg Ram), 2005 (Giuseppe Penone), 2009 (Anish Kapoor), 2010 (Jeff Koons) and 2016 (William Kentridge), alongside acclaimed younger vintages such as the 2018 (Xu Bing), 2019 (Olafur Eliasson) and 2020 (Peter Doig). Estimates range from £2,200-2,800 upwards to £120,000-240,000.

II. Centenary Celebration
Vintages 1924 and 2024

Celebrating the centenary of the first artist-designed label, this chapter brings together the inaugural 1924 artist-label vintage (Jean Carlu) and the 2024 vintage (est. £20,000-40,000 for a Super lot). This chapter will also include one-of-a-kind 'surprise' lots, to be revealed ahead of the auction.

III. The Future
Vintage 2025

A further highlight of the sale is a barrel of Château Mouton Rothschild 2025, offering a unique opportunity to acquire a vintage that will be delivered from the beginning of 2028 directly from the estate (est. £75,000-150,000). Equivalent to 300 bottles, the wine will be bottled in the successful bidder's choice from a wide selection of formats and personalised with bespoke strip labels.

IV. The Artistic Dialogue
The Heart of the Sale

The auction's central chapter translates Mouton Rothschild's artistic heritage into specially assembled collections inspired by major twentieth-century art movements, from Symbolism and Surrealism to Abstraction, Modernism, Nouveau Réalisme and Pop Art. Together, these collections offer a fresh insight into Mouton Rothschild's wines and the connections between artists, vintages and artworks.

Highlights include: Surrealism, bringing together Léonor Fini (1952), Matta (1962), Joan Miró (1969) and Paul Delvaux (1985); Modernism, featuring Georges Braque (1955), Pablo Picasso (1973), Georg Baselitz (1989), Francis Bacon (1990), Balthus (1993) and Lucian Freud (2006); and Pop Art, comprising four magnums bearing labels by Andy Warhol (1975), Saul Steinberg (1983), Keith Haring (1988) and David Hockney (2014).

Additional collections will explore the ram and the grape, two recurring motifs in Mouton Rothschild's labels.

A remarkable vertical provides another major highlight, comprising 77 bottles and one magnum from selected vintages spanning 1924 to 2024 (est. £150,000-300,000). The lot offers an unparalleled perspective on the history of Mouton Rothschild's wines and labels within a single collection, from Jean Carlu's original contribution to the vintage marking the centenary of the first label.

A dedicated group of large formats, predominantly imperials, will bear the signatures of artists who have created labels for Mouton Rothschild, added especially for the occasion, including Anish Kapoor (2009), Gerhard Richter (2015) and Olafur Eliasson (2019), together with signatures from the sixth generation of the Rothschild family. Fifty percent of the proceeds from these lots – which carry an estimate of £86,500-173,000 – will benefit Médecins Sans Frontières.

Selected lots will also support the Picasso Museum in Paris, the Soulages Museum in Rodez, The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Palace of Versailles.

Highlights include a magnum of 1973 (Pablo Picasso) (est. £1,700-3,500), an imperial of 1976 (Pierre Soulages) (est. £6,000-12,000) and an eight-bottle assortment benefitting The Museum of Modern Art (est. £15,000-30,000), each accompanied by exclusive experiences.

A seven-bottle Funds for The Palace of Versailles assortment brings together wines bearing labels by seven artists who have each exhibited at Versailles: Giuseppe Penone (2005), Bernar Venet (2007), Anish Kapoor (2009), Jeff Koons (2010), Lee Ufan (2013), Olafur Eliasson (2019) and Joana Vasconcelos (2023) (est. £10,000-20,000).

V. Origins & Legacy
Vintages 1922-1999

The final chapter returns to the first vintage of Baron Philippe's stewardship, 1922 (before the artist-label initiative), and encompasses historic wines through to 1999 (Raymond Savignac).

Highlights include the legendary 1945 (est. £18,000-24,000 for a bottle; £38,000-50,000 for a magnum), 1953 (centenary tribute to Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild), 1959, 1961 and further multi-format Super lots of iconic vintages, including 1982 and 1986 in addition to rare large formats from this period.

Specially created assortments celebrate pivotal years in the history of Château Mouton Rothschild's key family figures. Ode to the Baron comprises eight vintages beginning with his first year of stewardship, spanning vintages from 1922 to 1987 (est. £30,000-60,000). Ode to the Baroness brings together seven vintages spanning her lifetime, from 1933 to 2014 (est. £9,000-18,000).

"Could there ever be a sale where wine and art are so intertwined, as in this auction of the greatest wines from Château Mouton Rothschild, its bottles adorned with the work of some of the world's greatest artists." — Serena Sutcliffe, MW, Honorary Chairman, Sotheby's Wine

The Story Behind the Labels

When Baron Philippe de Rothschild took charge of the estate in 1922, he combined a passion for the arts with a determination to modernise Mouton Rothschild. In 1924, he pioneered the bottling of the entire vintage at the château, asserting the estate's responsibility for its wines and helping establish a new standard for Bordeaux's classified growths. Baron Philippe wanted his wine to stay in his bottles and bear his label. He asked the famous poster designer Jean Carlu to create a label for Château Mouton Rothschild and the first label illustrated by an artist was born.

In 1945, this time to celebrate the return of peace, Baron Philippe decided to crown the label for the vintage with the "V" for Victory, drawn by the young painter Philippe Jullian. This exceptional circumstance marked the start of a tradition and, from 1946, artist friends, including Jean Hugo (1946), Jean Cocteau (1947) and Leonor Fini (1952), were invited to contribute original artworks.

A significant development came when Georges Braque (1955) agreed to illustrate the vintage, paving the way for a succession of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries' most celebrated artists, including Dalí, César, Miró, Chagall, Picasso, Warhol and Soulages, forming a fascinating collection to which a new work is added each year. Many of these artists spent time at Château Mouton Rothschild, where their original artworks are displayed today in the Paintings for the Labels exhibit rooms, open to the estate's visitors.

Baroness Philippine de Rothschild (1933-2014) further developed these relationships and carried her father's vision to new heights. In 1981, she inaugurated the travelling exhibition Paintings for the Labels, allowing the original Mouton Rothschild artworks to be seen by audiences worldwide. Succeeding her father in 1988, she continued to modernise and promote the family's estates while upholding Mouton Rothschild's unique artistic legacy through an inspired succession of artists and landmark vintages. Under her stewardship, the tradition continued with Keith Haring (1988), followed by German artist Georg Baselitz (1989). Produced in the year of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 1989 vintage stands as both a remarkable wine and a witness to a defining moment in modern European history. The following year, the label was entrusted to Francis Bacon (1990), one of the most influential painters of the twentieth century. To mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, she even approached H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, a talented artist, who agreed that the label for Mouton Rothschild 2004 could be illustrated with one of his watercolours.

Since 2014, her children — Camille Sereys de Rothschild, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild — have continued this shared commitment to wine and art. Artist selection remains a family decision, with Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild overseeing relations with the artists. Their stewardship continues the spirit of Baron Philippe's dictum "Vivre La Vigne": a devotion to the vineyard, expressed through skill, craft and honouring it with art.