2010 Château Clerc Milon, Pauillac, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
Neal Martin - 30/06/2017
Tasted 17 Feb: Lighter on nose than Armailhac. Tea-leaves freshness – more attenuated than Armailhac. Very crude and raw. Very, very young! The last vat finished its malolactic only very recently apparently. Will settle down. Tasted 8 Apr: Mid purplish crimson. Serious dry tobacco/leather spectrum notes on the nose. And then ripe black fruits. Really quite sweet and opulent on the palate. Those Cabernets seem just a tiny bit struggling up the hill to full ripeness... Bone-dry finish.
Tasted blind 8 Apr: Mid crimson. Pale rim. Very ripe nose. Very thick, ripe and dramatic. Loose and a bit formless with a dry finish. There’s a little tart note in there which some people might find a bit much. Drying finish. Fades rather fast. But overall there is succulence. It is clear that a lot of work has gone into this.
Jancis Robinson MW- jancis robinson.com, Apr 2011
James Molesworth – The Wine Spectator – Top Scoring Bordeaux 2010 – 31 Mar 2011
Robert Parker- Wine Advocate- Feb 2013
The powerful 2010 is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and the balance mostly Merlot except for dollops of Petit Verdot and Carmenere that achieved 14.5% natural alcohol – a record at Clerc Milon. An intense purple color is followed by notes of incense, creme de cassis and flowers and a broad, rich wine with superb purity, concentration and depth. This layered, expansive effort could turn out to be one of the finest this estate has ever made. Give it 3-5 years of cellaring and drink it over the following two decades.
Robert Parker- Wine Advocate- May 2011
About this WINE
Château Clerc Milon
Classified as a Fifth Growth in 1855, Château Clerc Milon is one of a trinity of Pauillac classified growths owned by the Baron Philippe de Rothschild family. Baron Philippe began renovation and restoration here in 1970 – work that was later championed by his daughter Baroness Philippine until her death in 2014.
Baroness Philippine’s children, Camille and Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, now continue their mother’s legacy. In recent times, the estate has flourished under the careful stewardship of Director Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy. In 2020, his role expanded to include Château Mouton Rothschild and Château d’Armailhac and the talented winemaker Caroline Artaud joined the team at Château Clerc Milon in the capacity of Director.
Château Clerc Milon’s vineyard holdings – 41 hectares – neighbour two first growths. More than half of the vines are Cabernet Sauvignon (51.5%), with the remainder being Merlot (37%), Cabernet Franc (8%), Petit Verdot (2%) and Carmenère (1.5%). The vines have an average age of 48 years. Harvesting here is done by hand.
Pauillac
Pauillac is the aristocrat of the Médoc boasting boasting 75 percent of the region’s First Growths and with Grand Cru Classés representing 84 percent of Pauillac's production.
For a small town, surrounded by so many familiar and regal names, Pauillac imparts a slightly seedy impression. There are no grand hotels or restaurants – with the honourable exception of the establishments owned by Jean-Michel Cazes – rather a small port and yacht harbour, and a dominant petrochemical plant.
Yet outside the town, , there is arguably the greatest concentration of fabulous vineyards throughout all Bordeaux, including three of the five First Growths. Bordering St Estèphe to the north and St Julien to the south, Pauillac has fine, deep gravel soils with important iron and marl deposits, and a subtle, softly-rolling landscape, cut by a series of small streams running into the Gironde. The vineyards are located on two gravel-rich plateaux, one to the northwest of the town of Pauillac and the other to the south, with the vines reaching a greater depth than anywhere else in the Médoc.
Pauillac's first growths each have their own unique characteristics; Lafite Rothschild, tucked in the northern part of Pauillac on the St Estèphe border, produces Pauillac's most aromatically complex and subtly-flavoured wine. Mouton Rothschild's vineyards lie on a well-drained gravel ridge and - with its high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon - can produce (in its best years) Pauillac's most decadently rich, fleshy and exotic wine.
Latour, arguably Bordeaux's most consistent First Growth, is located in southern Pauillac next to St Julien. Its soil is gravel-rich with superb drainage, and Latour's vines penetrate as far as five metres into the soil. It produces perhaps the most long-lived wines of the Médoc.
Recommended Châteaux
Ch. Lafite-Rothschild, Ch. Latour, Ch. Mouton-Rothschild, Ch. Pichon-Longueville Baron, Ch. Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Ch. Lynch-Bages, Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Ch, Pontet-Canet, Les Forts de Latour, Ch. Haut-Batailley, Ch. Batailley, Ch. Haut-Bages Libéral.
Cabernet Sauvignon blend
Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.
In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Carmenère.
This wine, a close contender to Mouton-Rothschild, is a testament to quality and value. It’s not a mere imitation but a unique expression of masculinity, coolness, and definition. Priced significantly lower than its prestigious counterpart, it rivals, if not surpasses, the brilliance of the 1990. Consider trying it in both bottles and magnums for an irresistible offer!
Berry Bros. & Rudd
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