Château Mouton Rothschild, Premier Cru Classé, Bordeaux

In the last scene of the movie Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Bond's uses his knowledge of Château Mouton Rothschild wine to expose his enemies.

When James Bond (Sean Connery) and Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) relax on a cruise liner, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd bring a full dinner ("compliments of Willard Whyte") consisting of "Oysters Andaluz, shashlik, tidbits, prime rib au jus, Salade Utopia, and for dessert... a bombe surprise" (complete with a real bomb). Mr. Wint (played by Bruce Glover) poses as the wine steward and opens a bottle of Château Mouton Rothschild ’55 for Bond and Tiffany: “Wine, sir? Mouton Rothschild ’55. A happy selection, if I may say?” After Wint removes the cork with a needle-type air pressure opener and offers it to 007, Bond replies, “I’ll be the judge of that. That’s rather potent. Not the cork, your after-shave. Strong enough to bury anything.” Tasting the wine, Bond adds “But the wine is quite excellent. Although, for such a grand meal I had rather expected a claret.” Wint takes 007’s bait: “Of course. Unfortunately, our cellars are rather poorly stocked with clarets.” Bond rebukes, “Mouton Rothschild is a claret. And I’ve smelled that aftershave before and both times I’ve smelled a rat!”

When Mr. Kidd (played by Putter Smith) attacks Bond with two flaming skewers of shashlik, Bond breaks a bottle of Courvoisier and sprays the contents on the henchman. The cognac catches fire, immolating Mr. Kidd.

When Bond says Claret, he uses a term mostly used in British English for Bordeaux wine, wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France, but there are more specific meanings of the term claret. The Château Mouton Rothschild estate is located in the village of Pauillac in the Médoc, 50 km (30 miles) north-west of the city of Bordeaux, France.

Ian Fleming Novels
In the Ian Fleming novels, Bond drinks Mouton Rothschild (a ’47) when he has dinner with Goldfinger at that villain’s house in England. He also drinks half a bottle at a French restaurant in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. When 007 and M dine together at Blades in Moonraker, M has a Mouton Rothschild ’34.

Art labels
Part of the Rothschild family since 1853, the wine estate was transformed by Baron Philippe de Rothschild, who took control in 1922. Besides innovations such as bottling the chateau’s entire production, Baron Philippe also commissioned works of art for each year’s vintage by famous painters like Miró, Chagall, Picasso, Tàpies, Francis Bacon, Dali, Balthus, Jeff Koons and even Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. The label for the 1955 vintage, the bottle seen in Diamonds Are Forever, was designed by Georges Braque.

Château Mouton Rothschild
33250 Pauillac, France
Château Mouton Rothschild can be visited by appointment only.