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Clerc Milon 2018

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Pauillac
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyCabernet Sauvignon/Merlot

Like Armailhac, this Pauillac is made by the Mouton Rothschild team. Always a serious wine, it has been much improved in recent vintages. 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Carmenere in 2018.

View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Château Clerc Milon

Label

Tasting Notes

Blackcurrants, tobacco, graphite, cloves and dried leaves on the nose. It’s medium-to full-bodied with firm, tightly knit tannins. Structured and compact with a long, mineral finish. Tight and austere. Very pretty structure here. Wait until 2025.

95
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, March 2021

The 2018 Clerc Milon is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Carménère. 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. 2023 - 2039.

94+
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, March 2021

The progression of this property continues to be evident in the glass with a beautiful classicism, full of life and layers comprising dark spice and touches of black pepper against blueberry and cool fruits, pumped up by black chocolate and liquorice.

It’s confident and clearly has a fierce quality to the tannins giving a long life ahead of it. The harvest started on September 17, one week later than Mouton because of its cooler terroir, with the blend completed by 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Carmanère.

This is the last vintage with Jean-Emmanuel Donjoy at the helm as he’s making his way over to Mouton-Rothschild to work alongside Philippe Dhalluin. A tough gig to turn down of course, but I will miss the work he has done here and look forward to seeing what his successor will add.

Drinking Window 2026 - 2040

96
Jane Anson, Decanter.com, April 2019

Tasted blind. Not the most concentrated crimson. Light, fresh and zippy. Compact and undramatic with just a hint of something green on the palate. 14.5%
Drink 2027 – 2043

16.5
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, February 2022

60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot, 1% Carmenère; 50% new oak. Barrel sample.
Very dark cherry colour. Beautifully aromatic – not just pure black fruit but tea leaf and a touch floral. Silky and fresh, elegant in its texture. Juicy and fresh on the finish and much more open than the Armailhac just tasted, the tannins not as thick. (JH) 14.1%
Drink 2028-2038

17
Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2019

Deep colour with a plush, ripe nose of milk chocolate and ripe black cherry. The palate is spicy and toasty, with heady, ripe cassis at the core that gives an opulent, generous mouthfeel. The tannins are supple and integrated, allowing the fruit to shine through. This is slick, polished and refined, and should have a long and open drinking window.

92
Farr Vintners, Farr Tasting, April 2019

Beautiful, with a thrilling freshness and purity, especially in its tannins, the 2018 Château Clerc Milon is full-bodied, concentrated, and layered on the palate, with ample fruit and texture paired with terrific overall balance. Loaded with dark, smoky red and black fruits, graphite, cedar, and tobacco, it's an elegant yet powerful wine. The blend is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot and Carménère, all aged in 50% new oak.

92/94
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, May 2019

(60 Cabernet Sauvignon, 27 Merlot, 9 Cabernet Franc, 4 Petit Verdot, 1 Carmenère) | 14.2% alc Spicy and detailed on the nose and palate, this is a feisty Clerc Milon with attractive blackberry fruit and a bold attack of flavours from the off. The nose is ripe and there is obvious oak in play here, but it will settle into the core of the wine in due course. Nice and chunky and lacking in any subtlety this is a wine which approaches you head on and I like its attitude.

17.5+
Matthew Jukes, MatthewJukes.com, April 2019
Read more tasting notes...

Very generous and dense with layers of gorgeous blackberries and blueberries. Full-bodied and so layered with fantastic tannin backbone at the same time.

95/96
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, April 2019

The 2018 Clerc Milon is composed of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Carménère. Grapes were harvested a bit later here than at Mouton, from September 17 to October 10. Deep garnet-purple colored, it leaps from the glass with bold scents of warm cassis, blackberry compote and dark chocolate with hints of Morello cherries, baking spices and dried roses plus a waft of underbrush. It has a wonderfully rich, confidently sensuous palate with plenty of spicy layers and a velvety texture, finishing long and perfumed. This should age incredibly.

93/95
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (April 2019), April 2019
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.