Winemaker Notes
Blend: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Carmenere
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Always more muscular and powerful than Armailhac, there's no surprise that this has closed down more than its sibling. The complexity of the layers are still on display, showcasing fresh menthol, cranberry, white pepper, black olive, rose and blackberry, all wrapped up in a tight tannic hold. There are some wonderful toasted caramel notes, subdued but rich and tight, waiting to show their exuberance on the finish. There's no doubt that this is as good as I thought en primeur, but it needs time to open up, and I would suggest the full 10 years. 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Carmenere finish up the blend.
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James Suckling
An outstanding Clerc Milon and probably one of the recent best. This shows depth, richness, juiciness, complexity and nice fluidity in the middle. Fine, svelte tannins with graphite, black currant and paprika flavors. Juicy and medium- to full-bodied with a long finish. 55% cabernet sauvignon, 29% merlot, 13% cabernet franc, 2% petit verdot and 1% carmenere.
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Jeb Dunnuck
I was able to taste the 2016 Château Clerc Milon on multiple occasions and it was always brilliant, showing a deep ruby/purple color as well as sexy aromas and flavors of crème de cassis, new saddle leather, spicy oak, and graphite. Deep, powerful and beautifully concentrated, it’s a rock star of a Pauillac that’s going to keep for 30 years or more. The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and Carménère, all aged 16 months in 50% new French oak.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dark and concentrated, this wine offers depth and intensity. It has great ripeness as well as fine tannins that are integrated into the fruit. It is so juicy and exuberant that it’s hard to remember the tannins that will allow the wine to age. Drink from 2023.
Editors' Choice -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Cabernet Franc was fantastic this year, so it was all used in the grand vin. The final blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Carménère. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Clerc Milon leaps from the glass with beautiful scents of chocolate-covered cherries, plum preserves and crushed blackcurrants with suggestions of lilacs, cardamom, underbrush and unsmoked cigars. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a firm frame of finely grained tannins and seamless freshness lifting the perfumed fruit to a nice long finish.
Rating: 94+ -
Wine Spectator
A fresh and stylish version, with chalky minerality running from start to finish. Succulent plum and cassis fruit flavors coil around this and absorbs this easily at first. Then pretty violet and lilac notes guild the finish, with the minerality taking a slightly firmer stand. Best from 2023 through 2035.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Densely fruited with fine tannin support and a good deal of ready ripeness to its credit, this year’s Clerc Milon ups the ante in richness relative to past offerings and fully demonstrates the success of Pauillac in 2016. It is both concentrated and still fairly tight to finish and, in our estimation, is a claret that should be laid away in the cellar for a good five to ten years before it can be fully appreciated.
An 1855 Classified Growth, Château Clerc Milon is in a unique location in Pauillac. Bordering two Classified First Growths, it has 41 hectares (100 acres) of vines in a single sweep, mostly on the beautiful Mousset outcrop overlooking the Gironde. The estuary and its sea breezes moderate temperature variations while the geological formation encourages natural drainage and optimises the vines’ exposure to the sun. The soil comprises deep, sandy gravel over a clay-limestone base which crops out in the eastern part of the estate. The vineyard’s slopes and proximity to the Gironde estuary create a unique topography and microclimate.
The vineyard, mostly comprising plots first planted in the early 20th century, offers a singular genetic heritage and rich biodiversity. It has five grape varieties typical of the region: Cabernet Sauvignon (51.5%), Merlot (37%), Cabernet Franc (8%), Petit Verdot (2%) and Carmenere (1.5%), including a parcel planted in 1947.
Pastourelle de Clerc Milon is the estate’s second wine, in which Merlot predominates.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988) acquired Château Clerc Milon in 1970. His values and know-how are now embodied in the third generation of the family, represented by Camille and Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, who continue to develop Château Clerc Milon with the same enthusiasm and quest for modernity. Thanks to the work carried out over the last 50 years and more, and with the help of a dedicated team endowed with cutting-edge technical facilities, Château Clerc Milon is more than ever a benchmark for excellence in the Médoc.
Château Clerc Milon is a beautifully balanced, elegant and precise wine with considerable ageing potential.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
The leader on the Left Bank in number of first growth classified producers within its boundaries, Pauillac has more than any of the other appellations, at three of the five. Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild border St. Estephe on its northern end and Chateau Latour is at Pauillac’s southern end, bordering St. Julien.
While the first growths are certainly some of the better producers of the Left Bank, today they often compete with some of the “lower ranked” producers (second, third, fourth, fifth growth) in quality and value. The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification that goes back to 1855. The finest chateaux in that year were judged on the basis of reputation and trading price; changes in rank since then have been miniscule at best. Today producers such as Chateau Pontet-Canet, Chateau Grand Puy-Lacoste, Chateau Lynch-Bages, among others (all fifth growth) offer some of the most outstanding wines in all of Bordeaux.
Defining characteristics of fine wines from Pauillac (i.e. Cabernet-based Bordeaux Blends) include inky and juicy blackcurrant, cedar or cigar box and plush or chalky tannins.
Layers of gravel in the Pauillac region are key to its wines’ character and quality. The layers offer excellent drainage in the relatively flat topography of the region allowing water to run off into “jalles” or streams, which subsequently flow off into the Gironde.