This shows lots of mulled spice, warm tobacco leaf and well-roasted cedar accents, but isn't short on fruit, offering enticing layers of red currant, plum and blackberry confiture. The long finish is riddled with sweet smoke, black tea and iron notes. A gorgeous wine from an overlooked vintage.--Non-blind Mouton-Rothschild vertical (March 2017). Best from 2020 through 2035. 23,000 cases made. — JM

Brilliant crimson rim with a deep and dark core. This opens with a very fragrant and beautiful nose, really quite expressive. On the palate, there’s an array of bright and lively black and red fruits along with a touch of mocha and tobacco. A luxurious texture with gentle, integrated tannins. Fine structure and length is definitely present with lively acidity providing good lift. A complex and delicious Mouton, very classic in style. This lingers for some time on the finish and is an absolute stand out form an underrated, dark horse vintage. Starting to show very well in its present form, drink this exquisite ’04 Mouton now with a little aeration, or hold and follow over the next 10-15 years.

I drank this 2004 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild the other night at home with some wine producers. I decanted it only right before serving - a mistake made while concentrating on the cooking food. On the nose there were coffee and chocolate aromas with hints of vanilla. It was super fruity, and its medium body was coupled with beautifully soft tannins. This is just coming around now and it's very New World in style. Overall, a much overlooked vintage from Mouton.

Supple and grand, Mouton has a heavenly richness in 2004. The flavors are saturated with blackberry and black-cherry fruit, bright on the aroma, quieter and softer in the end. The wine has a laconic beauty, closed off behind its oak and stony tannin. With several days of air, the succulence of the fruit grows more prominent as it will with 15 to 20 years of age.

An extremely distinctive wine – almost mid Atlantic rather than Pauillac and therefore of course very winning. Very dark purple. Hidden, deep-flavoured nose. Some rather sweet notes – even ripe Merlot notes which dominate at the moment. Very smooth and flattering in texture with real polish – very supple tannins with lots of fruit on the front palate. Not nearly as dry as one would expect of a first growth Pauillac – almost a hint of Opus One in texture? No hint of oak. Very interesting and not at all severe. 18/20

Still quite youthful, even though it lacks the concentration and flamboyance, the wine still has plenty to offer. Medium/full-bodied, the wine focuses on cedar, tobacco leaf, red currants and forest floor notes in the perfume, the nose. Fresh, bright red fruits and spice box notes on the soft refined palate complete the finish. The wine needs another 5 years n the cellar before it moves completely into its secondary stage.

Last tasted three or four years ago, the 2004 Mouton-Rothschild is a satisfactory wine, even if in my opinion it pales again subsequent success in so-called "challenging" vintages such as 2006 or 2008. It came across tight and broody on the nose, a hint of seaweed tincturing the black fruit, later on a whiff of smoke. It does not feel as refined as either the 2004 Lafite-Rothschild or the 2004 Latour. The palate is medium-bodied and shows more class than the aromatics: cohesive and with just the right amount of grip, a little chewy perhaps but with a pleasant saline sensation towards the "correct" finish. It ticks all the boxes but does not go that extra mile. Tasted September 2016. - Neal Martin

The 2004 Mouton Rothschild takes a few swirls of the glass to coalesce, slightly minty black fruit commingling with cassis and iris flower. Doesn't quite "flow" like subsequent vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, fleshy on the mid-palate and concentrated in the context of the vintage. A touch of burnt toast and white pepper appears on the finish. It doesn't have the same complexity as, say, the 2008 or 2012, but it will continue to age nicely in bottle. Tasted at the château in bottle and a week later, en magnum at the Académie du Vin dinner. -- Neal Martin