Château Clerc Milon Pauillac 2019 - Grand Cru Classé

Bettane & Desseauve

About the wine:

Rich, colorful, fleshy, with this vintage's blend giving greater prominence to Cabernet Sauvignon, as will be the case in future vintages. A fine, classic Pauillac with great ageing potential, magnificent oaky finish and still affordable price.

About the domain :

Along with Armailhac, it is the other fifth classified growth of the Rothschild family (Mouton). Long in the shadow of its elder Mouton, lacking a little personality, it has since the 2000s regained its personality thanks to more rigorous and individualized management. A new, highly original, all-wooden winery, built to stringent environmental specifications, now enables this superb fifth-growth Pauillac to be vinified and matured in better conditions. The terroir is more clayey than that of the Mouton plateau, giving greater expressive richness to the Merlot grape variety, which is used here in greater proportion.

Decanter

About the wine:

Great Cabernet nose, generous and quite expressive, full of blackcurrants and black plums. Rich and densely concentrated but with a refreshing freshness from the limestone. Deep on the palate, it's powerful and offers a real impression of complexity of flavors that are well framed and direct. Smooth and muscular at the same time, with a fresh, minty, licorice and gently sweet finish that really does leave a lasting, delicious note. A brilliantly concentrated, powerful and sophisticated glass of wine. Persistent finish, which will age very well. I love the texture and overall feel of this wine (Georgina Hindle) Tasting period: 2027 - 2044

Guide Hachette des vins

About the domain :

Formerly owned by Lafite, this Cru Classé was acquired during the French Revolution by the Clerc family, who added the name of a hamlet in Pauillac to their own, and then by Baron Philippe de Rothschild in 1970. Situated between Mouton and Lafite, in the northeastern part of the appellation, it boasts a 41-hectare vineyard planted on a choice terroir (essentially the Mousset hilltop overlooking the Gironde) and a new winery since 2011.

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

About the wine:

Clerc Milon 2019 is a true success story. At over 70%, this blend contains one of the highest proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon in the estate's recent history, and the result is a wine of real nobility. Offering aromas of violets, wild berries, licorice, clay soil and cigar wrapper, it is full-bodied, complex and multidimensional, with notable depth at the core, lively acidity and ripe, powdery tannins that assert themselves on the finish. From clay-limestone soils rather than the sandy gravels that characterize d'Armailhac, this is by far the most structured and serious of Mouton-Rothschild's two stablemates in Pauillac. (William Kelley)

About the domain :

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the wine:

The vintage with the highest percentage of Cabernet since... 1986. The wine continues to progress along a straighter path, racy and beautifully taut. A benchmark bottle for the cru, foreshadowing a new style that we are delighted to see.

About the domain :

This château is part of the stable of Rothschild estates (Mouton). It's always fascinating to compare it with its brother Armailhac. Vinified by the same team, the latter is a classicist, with a significant proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in its blend, while the former relies on a higher proportion of Merlot. After a period of ups and downs, the cru is now back to its best, with better-defined concentration and velvetiness. The recent construction of a vat room and cellar has enabled us to go even further.

Vinous A. Galloni

About the wine:

The 2019 vintage of Château Clerc Milon is seriously impressive. Dense, plush and explosive, Clerc Milon 2019 offers a captivating blend of inky, dense fruit intermixed with savory accents from the blend's 72% Cabernet Sauvignon (the highest since 1986). Dried herbs, tobacco, menthol and licorice intertwine in a deep, resonant finish. Superb.

James Suckling

About the wine:

Aromas of crushed stone, blackcurrant and blackberry. Full-bodied, with extremely well-crafted tannins, mellow and massive, yet polished and fantastic. Love the finish. Drink after 2026.

Le Figaro vins

About the wine:

If we close our eyes, we're in front of a deep, cold lake, before the peony notes arrive. Black fruit on the palate, with hints of elderberry and lovely length. A wine that evokes a gentle caress, albeit a little timid.

Yves Beck

About the wine:

You have to go back to the 1986 vintage to find so much Cabernet Sauvignon at Clerc-Milon. The bouquet is fresh and subtle, with elegant red fruit notes followed by mocha, licorice and graphite. On the palate, the wine evolves slowly, like many of the great Pauillacs of this vintage. The tannins are fine, precise, juicy and in harmony with the temperament of the acidity. A wine with body, swing and great length. A great success that will defy the decades to come.

Jean-Marc Quarin

About the wine:

Dark, intense purple color. Medium-intense nose, with ripe, delicately creamy fruit. It's on the palate that this wine shows its interest, but also its new delight. Soft on entry, offering a delicate texture, a very tasty body, with lots of brightness in the aroma, the wine evolves fully without losing its meticulous character, towards a long finish where the taste nonetheless evokes the right bank (thanks to the limestone). A superb whole, more precise than ever.

Vert de Vin

About the wine:

The nose is elegant, racy and offers a little concentration/power (but all in control), good grain finesse and a little intensity. Notes of full-bodied blackcurrant, full-bodied strawberry and, to a lesser extent, full-bodied black berry are combined with hints of violet, lily and hints of zan, Cuban pepper, nutmeg, as well as very discreet hints of spice and a subtle touch of vanilla. The palate is fruity and balanced, with a juicy/finely acidic structure, tension, finesse, very fine unctuosity, lovely juiciness/freshness, good definition, greediness, fine (and racy) grain and precision. On the palate, this wine expresses notes of pulpy/juicy blackcurrant, juicy/fresh blackberry and, more lightly, juicy/fresh strawberry, combined with fine touches of violet, lily, chocolate, caramelization, as well as very fine hints of zan, Cuben pepper, a very discreet hint of star anise and toasted hazelnut. The tannins are elegant, racy and very finely mellow.

Anthocyanes - Yohan Castaing

About the wine:

Blackcurrant, licorice, Cabernet Franc with lovely floral notes. Fleshy, taut on the palate, with density but always with delicacy and finesse. Power too, but perfectly contained. What freshness! A Clerc Milon for laying down.