In 1853 Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild, wishing to serve his own wine to his prestigious guests, buys Château Brane-Mouton at auction. The estate, at Pauillac in the heart of the Médoc, will henceforth bear his name: Château Mouton Rothschild.
The ambition of making Mouton a place of art and beauty can be seen everywhere. Outside, in the harmonious arrangement of buildings and open space, in the subtle play of perspectives, in the zen-raked pathways, in the peaceful symmetry of the two end-walls that frame the château, in the contrast between the vertical lines of Petit Mouton, a modest, ivy-covered, mansard-roofed Victorian residence built in 1885, and the horizontal lines of Grand Mouton, constantly enhanced and redesigned since the 1960s.