Nathaniel de Rothschild, (London, July 2, 1812 – February 19, 1870 in Paris) was the founder of the French wine-making branch of the Rothschild family.
Born in London, Nathaniel Rothschild was the fourth child of Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836) and Hannah Cohen (1783-1850). He moved to Paris, France in 1850 to work in the banking business owned by his uncle, James Mayer Rothschild (1792-1868). Known as "Nat," in 1842, he married his uncle's daughter, Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild (1825-1899).
Nat Rothschild worked with his uncle James at the Rothschild bank in Paris, but in 1853 he acquired Château Brane Mouton, a vineyard in Pauillac in the Gironde département from a Paris banker named Thuret who had previously bought it from Baron Hector de Branne in 1830. Nat Rothschild paid 1,175,000 francs for Brane-Mouton's 65 acres (263,000 m²) of vineyards and renamed the estate, Château Mouton Rothschild. It would become of the world's best known winemakers.
In 1868, Nat's uncle James acquired the neighboring Château Lafite vineyard. A prestigious first growth (premiere cru) property more than three times the size of Chateau Mouton, it created a family rivalry. In the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 Château Mouton was ranked second, something that upset its owner a great deal. In response, he composed the motto: Premier ne puis, second ne daigne, Mouton suis. ("First I cannot be, second I do not choose to be, Mouton I am.").
Nat Rothschild died in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War and his children and grandchildren showed little enthusiasm for the wine business. It would be 118 years later before Château Mouton, under the leadership of Nat's great-grandson Philippe de Rothschild (1902-88), would become the only French vineyard to ever achieve reclassification to first growth.
Children of Nathaniel de Rothschild & Charlotte de Rothschild:
- Nathalie de Rothschild (1843-1843), died in infancy
- James Edouard de Rothschild (1844-1884)
- Mayer Albert de Rothschild (1846-1850)
- Arthur de Rothschild (1851-1903)