A New Development at Mouton Cadet

A New Development at Mouton Cadet

This year marks a new development at Mouton Cadet Wines 75 years after it was set up by Baron Philip de Rothschild. It has become the most famous wine in the Bordeaux AOC family and has been exported to 150 countries. On the occasion of a visit to Vietnam by Roger Gaffney, the company director, VIB Forum spoke with him.

Mouton Cadet is a famous wine in the Bordeaux AOC family with a long history. Can you tell something about its origin?

The wine was first produced in 1927 by Baron Philippe under its initial name ‘Les Carruades de Mouton Rothschild’ – a famous grape growing area. In 1930, it was renamed Mouton Cadet. Grape for producing the wine was bought from areas nearby, namely Saint-Estephe and Haut-Medoc. Mouton Cadet grew rapidly in popularity until World War II. After a long absence from the market due to the war, Mouton Cadet re-appeared in 1947 and Mouton Cadet of Bordeaux has developed strongly thanks to its consistently high quality.

In 1950, Mouton Cadet became an international trademark, occupying the top position in the US market between the 1960s and 1980s.

Encouraged by the success of Mouton Cadet Bordeaux Rouge, the Mouton Cadet Bordeaux Blanc was marketed in 1972 to meet high demand in North America and three million bottles were sold worldwide.

In the 1980s, sales of Mouton Cadet Bordeaux Blanc and Mouton Cadet Bordeaux Rouge increased to a record 17 million bottles. The company then developed other trademarks, such as Saint-Laurent-Medoc (1993), Mouton Cadet Reserve Medoc (1996), Mouton Cadet Reserve Graves (1999).

Have these new wines strengthened the trademark of Mouton Cadet around the world?

These wines are made for small distributors and retailers. The development of these wines has helped diversify Rothschild wines. With the prestige drawn from an excellent quality product together with proper business strategies, they have contributed to the continued success of Mouton Cadet. This can be seen via our company’s sales of about 15 million bottles per year, 75 per cent of which are exported. Now, Mouton Cadet wines are available in restaurants, hotels and shops in more than 150 countries.

Continuing its success, the company has recently launched a new Mouton Cadet wine. Do you believe the new product will be successful?

Before marketing the new Mouton Cadet product, we conducted a survey with people in 22 cities and five countries in the world, namely France, the UK, the US, Germany and Japan. The survey shows that people want a high quality wine with fruit flavours.

The product is a blend with fruit flavours which appeal to the senses, and an attractive taste which will complement any food. It has become popular around the world.

Vietnam is a large new market showing great potential, with local people displaying interest in wines. Even though Vietnamese people have yet to get used to drinking wine regularly, with low sales at present, I believe that the market will develop more rapidly as local people acquire a taste for wine.

Apart from our business activities, we would like to bring a complete wine culture to Vietnam. We would like to promote wine tasting as an art. We would like to be known in the market. That is why I am visiting Vietnam on a new campaign to serve our customers better.