1976 Baron Philippe de Rothschild Pomerol

Baron Philippe de Rothschild Mouton Cadet is the brand name of popular Bordeaux which is blend of grapes from several Bordeaux appellations. It was created in the early 1930s by Baron Philippe de Rothschild, who was the youngest son (hence the name “cadet,” referring to a younger son) of the aristocratic family that owned Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Following several poor vintages in the late 1920s, Philippe de Rothschild started Mouton Cadet as a second label, though over the decades it improved in quality and became one of the best selling wines in the world. The reserve blend was created in 1996. The Mouton Cadet Reserve brand now includes a Medoc, a Saint-Emilion, Graves Rouge and Blanc and a Sauternes. Mouton Cadet is distributed by Constellation Brands.

Pomerol is the smallest of Bordeaux’s red wine producing regions, with only about 2,000 acres of vineyards. Located on the east side of the Dordogne River, it is one of the so-called “right bank” appellations and therefore planted primarily to Merlot. Pomerol is unique in Bordeaux in that it is the only district never to have been rated in a classification system. Some historians think Pomerol’s location on the right bank made it unattractive to Bordeaux-based wine traders, who had plenty of wine from Medoc and Graves to export to England and northern Europe. Since ranking estates was essentially a marketing ploy to help brokers sell wine, ranking an area where they did little business held no interest for them. Pomerol didn’t get much attention from the international wine community until the 1960s, when Jean-Pierre Moueix, an entrepreneurial wine merchant, started buying some of Pomerol’s best estates and exporting the wines. Today the influential Moueix family owns Pomerol’s most famous estate, Château Pétrus, along with numerous other Pomerol estates. Pomerol wines, primarily Merlot blended with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, are considered softer and less tannic than left bank Bordeaux.