Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild acquired the château in 1853, but the legend of Mouton did not really begin until 1922 with Baron Philippe de Rothschild. At the age of 21, full of ambition and original ideas, he decided to devote his life to forging the wine's identity and its international reputation, which, from the very beginning also had an effect on the image of Bordeaux's wines as a whole. In 1924, faced with the numerous irregular practices of Bordeaux's wine merchants, he inaugurated the bottled at the château guarantee. In 1945, to celebrate the Liberation, a V for victory crowned the label for that vintage, an initiative which marked the beginning of a series of original works created each year for the label by a famous artist. In 1973, even though no change had ever been made to the 1855 classification, Baron Philippe obtained - not without some difficulty - a revision that officially made Mouton one of Bordeaux's elite Premier Grands Crus Classés. On his death in 1998, his daughter Philippine took over the reins, assisted by an unparalleled technical team, and successfully continued her father's projects until her death in 2014. Today, her three children, Camille Sereys de Rothschild, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild run the estate together.

Produced since the 1993 vintage, the second wine of Château Mouton Rothschild is named after the residence of its owner, Philippine de Rothschild, which is at the very heart of the estate. Made from the property's youngest vines, it is harvested and vinified with the same meticulous care as the grand vin. It can be distinguished from the grand vin in particular by its much larger proportion of Merlot.This results in a wine with aromas of ripe fruits (cherry, blackberry) and with a rich, full-bodied and fleshy palate. Bottles of Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild bear labels inspired by the design produced by Jean Carlu for the 1924 vintage of Mouton Rothschild (the first vintage to be bottled at the château).