The cellars at Mouton Rothschild comprise a bottle cellar, a reserve and the second-year cellar. The former contains about 120,000 bottles from exchanges between Mouton Rothschild and the greatest Bordeaux châteaux. Recorked every 25 to 30 years, these wines accompany the meals served at the château. The reserve contains wines preserved for posterity: 24 bottles, 6 magnums and 3 jeroboams of Mouton Rothschild, the oldest bottle dating back to the 1859 vintage. The second-year cellar holds the previous year’s barrels after they have spent a year in the Grand Chai.
Conditions in the cellars are ideal for keeping wine, with a constant temperature between 12° and 15°, a humidity level between 80% and 90% and little or no light.
The other cellars are used to store the second-year barrels, which contain the wine from the previous year’s vintage.