Château Clerc Milon Rothschild, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2018
Clerc Milon hails from one single plot to the east of Mouton, also neighbouring Chateau Lafite. Produced from 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 1% Carmenère and 1% Petit Verdot. It opens with a charming floral and blue-fruited profile with touches of liquorice and vanilla cream. The palate is awash with bright strawberries and hedgerow fruit with an engaging bittersweet character, wonderful freshness and laser-like focus. This tastes really elevated with silky, mouth-coating tannins and a superb texture. Elegant, moreish and intricate.
critic reviews
The 2018 Clerc Milon has a deep garnet-purple color. It delivers notes of stewed plums, boysenberry preserves, and cassis, with touches of cigar box and dried Provencal herbs. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is taut and muscular, featuring firm, ripe, grainy tannins and youthful black fruits, finishing long and earthy.
Excellent quality, with abundant juice, slate tannins, plump black cherry, fig and blackberry fruit, ripe and rich in the character of the 2018 vintage but this is still a Pauillac with a firm voice. Eucalyptus, cocoa bean, turmeric, sage and liqourice add layers to the finish. Harvest September 17 to October 10. Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy technical director.
The 2018 Clerc Milon is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Carmenere. Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, it has a very pure, beautifully delineated nose of crushed blackcurrants, fresh black plums and boysenberries with hints of wild thyme, damp soil, tar and black olives. The medium to full-bodied palate offers taut, muscular black fruit with loads of savory layers and a firm, grainy texture, finishing long and mineral tinged.
The 2018 Clerc Milon has a nicely detailed bouquet of blackberry, raspberry, light cassis and iodine aromas gently unfurling from the glass, the new oak neatly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with graphite-infused black fruit. Quite a strict and linear Clerc Milon, it is classic Pauillac from start to finish. The pencil-lead-tinged, quite sinewy finish lingers wonderfully. Give this 3–4 years in bottle and then serve with a simple meat dish.