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Freud labels Mouton 2006

By February 5, 2009Bordeaux, Regions

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Lucien Freud – arguably Britain's greatest living painter – has provided the label for Mouton Rothschild 2006. The Bordeaux First Growth commissions a different artist to design the upper part of the label each year. Previous artists have included Picasso, Dali, Miró, Warhol, Francis Bacon and the Prince of Wales. 

The label, pictured above, is described by the Chateau as "a joyously exotic transposition of the pleasure of drinking". It appears Freud's looked back to one his most celebrated early surrealist works – 'The Painter's Room' (1944), pictured below - for inspiration.

Freud,_The_painter's_room 

When asked by UK newspaper the Daily Mail how she persuaded the 86-year old Freud to produce the label,  Baroness Philippine de Rothschild replied. "The word persuade is not quite right, though, because you cannot persuade Lucian Freud to do anything… He either does something because he wants to or he does not do it. In this case, he thought it would be an amusing thing to do."

The artists are not officially paid for the commission but receive a gift of ten cases of Mouton Rothschild for their efforts, half of which will be from 'their' vintage.

In that respect Freud has been rather fortunate: Mouton Rothschild is widely considered the star of the 2006 vintage, scoring 96-100 from Robert Parker – "the finest they have made since the monumental 1982 and 1986" – and 95-100 from James Suckling – "this could be better than 2005". Although, with a suggested drinking window of 2018-2050, it will perhaps be better enjoyed by one of his (famously) numerous children.

It is currently available for around £5,000 a 12x75cl case. You can view full details on www.liv-ex.com.