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Chateau Mouton Rothschild 95'

Last night uncorked the captioned wine for my family at dinner. A first growth wine that may not be a crowd pleaser.

Purchased this wine just after it was newly released. Let the wine breathe for 1.5 hr and started to consume it. Nose, great, very fragrant. The first sip, the wine was very backward, waited for some time, still subdued, medium bodied, strong lead pencil, no harsh edges, not very tannic, finished with moderate aftertaste. One may say that it was elegant. Some disappointment. BTW, sometimes I wonder how this chateau could be elevated to first growth even though she had produced some magnificent wines. But where is the consistency?

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ching, please forgive me if I'm being too direct, with no offense I sincerely think you had not treated this bottle of 95' mouton correctly and thus the reward is a waste.
first of all, we all know 95' is a very backward style vintage in bordeaux, mouton especially should benefit from another 5-10 years bottle ageing process to give some enjoyment.
secondly, you should have decanted the wine and let it breath in the decanter for at least say 3-4 hours or even longer, of course you can try from 1st hour on to witness the development of the wine during the process of waking up, an 1.5 hour breathing in the bottle the wine is still asleep.

mouton may be the most inconsistent 1st growth and 95' mouton may not be the wine of the vintage, but according to the reputation of the chateau and the vintage, this wine should perform much better when its ready, elegance has nothing to do with the body nor the after taste, sorry I'm not convinced.

In my tasting experience of clarets of 95', I personally do not regard this a particular successful vintage and the current market price may give some hints. IMO, Mouton 95' doesn't possess extra dimensions and nuances to qualify as a first growth. And the worst is that she lacks concentration. One may bet on her to blossom after years but sorry not me. Cheers.

95' is not a top top bordeaux vintage but it is certainly a respectable one although it may favor the right bank a little more.  I have had superb l'angelus and llc from this vintage even though they both were still youthful.

wine preference is very personal, however there are certain ways to enjoy a nice bottle of wine that cannot be taken lightly, these are some important things to note :
to decant or not to decant ?
how long does the wine need to breath ?
only the above are done correctly then one can tell when tasting the wine if its premature, well evolved or over the top, this will require some tasting experiences.

the wine lack of concentration usually because of not enough breathing time and the wine is still asleep, even a matured sleeping beauty can get up to sing and dance once mingles with oxygen for a proper amount of time.
I had a bottle of 82' lafite a few months ago that was decanted for 6 hours still no sign of a 1st growth quality nor the type of concentration you would expect to get.

To decant or not to decant is always stirring up a debate on its effectivness. Decanting is somewhat like a knife with double-blade. It can promote the aeration of  a wine so that more aromas and flavours could be released from wine but on the other hand, over-exposure of oxygen could be harmful to wine or even ruin the wine.
Some wine experts also point out that the prolonged exposure to oxygen actually diffuses and dissipates more aroma compounds than it stimulates.

I personally  like breathing the wine in the bottle and taste the wine intervals by intervals in order to experience the changes and development of wine. I think, C hing , you're a follower of using decanter.

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yes ching, the debate of decanting wine is ongoing only when there is no other condition taken into consideration otherwise the answer is very clear.
I would decant most bordeaux red as long as the wine is still in healthy condition just like only physically sound human can make good use of a vigorous exercise.
of course no one would attempt to decant a simple table wine or a beaujolais simply because of their loose structure even though they are still healthy, but decanting process is not going to harm a healthy bottle of well structured wine, only a declining wine can be ruined by "over-exposed to oxygen" to lead to a quicker oxidation and this is the condition those wine experts base on.
meanwhile, a prematured bottle of wine would definitely benefit from decanting, you can actually try your next 95' mouton using a decanter and breath longer to witness the difference, cheers!