Château Duhart Milon Rothschild, 4eme Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2022
Duhart Milon is a terroir that excels in warm vintages. Anyone who has tasted the 2003 recently will know that this is one of the standout wines of the vintage. Good as their 2003 is, 2022 goes to another level. This is a purists' wine: sleek and correct, a classically styled, handsome Pauillac, brimming with nervy tension and aristocratic flavours. Plenty of violet soaked cassis on the nose, hints of liquorice, clove, bright cherries, spearmint and forest fruits. The palate is deep and concentrated yet brimming with life. Engaging and long with a wonderful saline finish, notes of strawberries and cracked chocolate. An absolute delight, this will rival their epic 2009, although, this is a more linear, refined style. Sensational. 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and 22% Merlot.
critic reviews
The 2022 Duhart-Milon has a little more vitality and tension than Clerc Milon, with edgy blackberry and bilberry fruit and a faint scent of the Gironde. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly rustic tannins. This just sags in the middle, which is disappointing after the promising aromatics, though it coheres on the short, off-dry finish. This feels as if it is closing down, so I will not rate this. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.
This is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 22% Merlot, mostly from the heart of the plateau of Duhart-Milon, and the élevage was in 50% new oak with 50% second-fill barrels. This opens with a dark and smoky nose, filled with lightly crystalline and desiccated berry fruits, cranberry and currant, touched with notes of rosemary, pomegranate and peony, all swirled with a touch of oak. The palate feels lightly poised, carefree and rather juicy, with rather crystalline fruit reflecting the character on the nose, along with a charming sense of freshness. It finishes firm, gripped and juicy, with a fine spindle of peppery tannins running through the length. A rather fresh and joyful interpretation of the vintage which reminds me of the 2014 vintage more than anything grander. Tasted twice. The alcohol on the label is 13.5%.
Dark rich ruby colour, elegant and slow moving, will take its time to reach peak drinking, and lots to love. Silky, rich, a vintage that brings out a rakish side of Duhart, unusually ripe that touches exuberance without ever giving up its Pauillac character. Lots of replanting here, so lots of young vines that go into Moulin de Duhart. 50% new oak for ageing, 3.82 ph.
The 2022 Duhart-Milon unwinds in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cedar box, loamy soil, herbs and spices, followed by a medium to full-bodied, supple and velvety palate with a broad attack that segues into a lively, nicely concentrated core of fruit, concluding with a youthfully firm finish.