by Charles Metcalfe
A painting by Prince Charles, heir to the UK throne, has been chosen to embellish the label of Château Mouton-Rothschild 2004. Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, owner of Château Mouton-Rothschild, has selected the painting to celebrate 100 years of the `Entente Cordiale´ between the UK and France, which originally arose out of a meeting between Prince Charles´s great, great grandfather (then Albert Edward, Prince of Wales; later Edward VII) and Léon Gambetta, the French statesman.
The painting is a watercolour of pine trees growing out of sandy soil set against a blue sky, painted at the Cap d´Antibes in the Côte d Azur. It´s a typically southern French scene, which would be familiar to any British holidaymaker who has visited the south of France. Nothing to do with wine, but maybe an astute choice by the Baroness, with an eye to the marketing of the classically 2004 vintage in the UK, a market that appreciates a more restrained style of Bordeaux. The splendid 2005 vintage needs no such marketing help, so perhaps she will revert to a purely artistic choice for that label.
Whatever the effect of the label on sales of Mouton 2004, if only this celebration of 1904 s `Entente Cordiale´ were reflected by an overall increase in French wine sales in the UK, the French would feel even better about it.
