Mouton Rothschild has unveiled the label for its 2010
vintage, which was designed by the American sculptor Jeff Koons.
Koons’ design incorporates
the Birth of Venus (a fresco from Pompeii) with a silver drawing. The chateau
describes how this addition “turns
into a Venus with Vessel – both the cup which holds and the ship which,
under a bright sun, bears off into the distance an exquisite wine… Surely
Mouton Rothschild 2010!”
Mouton 2010 has been
well received, with scores in the high 90s from most critics. Released at €600
p/b ex-negociant, it is currently the most expensive of Mouton’s last ten vintages
(2002-2011), last trading on Liv-ex for £5,728 per 12×75.
The chateau has
been commissioning contemporary artists to design the upper part of the
label every year since 1945. And whilst the artists are not officially
paid for their work, they are given cases of the First Growth for
their efforts, including cases of "their" vintage. Koons joins a list
of artists that includes Picasso, Dali, Miró, Warhol, Francis Bacon, Lucien
Freud and the Prince of Wales. Last year's label was designed by Anish Kapoor.
Koons was born in Pennsylvania in 1955 and
first came to the public’s attention in 1986 with his stainless steel Inflatable Rabbit. In 1997 his Puppy was installed outside the
Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, and in 2008 his Balloon Flower (Magenta) made him the world’s most expensive living
artist. He described the exhibition of 17 of his works at Chateau de Versailles as "the proudest moment of my life". (Photo above by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff).
