2018 Château Duhart-Milon, Pauillac, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
3.84pH and a yield of 37.5hl/ha.
One of the real successes of the Lafite stable in 2018. You get the rich, smooth texture straight off the nose, continued by a velvety texture and a full mouthfeel. Serious with a long life ahead. This is one of the more voluptuous Duhart-Milons that I have tasted, and it will expand the audience for this wine, in my opinion. Plenty of black fruits, bitter chocolate, liquorice, slate and pencil lead. Ticks the boxes of both Pauillac and Cabernet Sauvignon character. Very good-quality.
Drink 2026 - 2044
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (November 2020)
Just as it was from barrel, the 2018 Duhart-Milon is a real powerhouse. Black cherry, gravel, spice, espresso and savoury herbs infuse the 2018 with notable depth and power. A brooding, virile wine, the Duhart-Milon packs a serious punch. I would give it a few years to soften. The 2018 has really come together since en primeur. In fact, the bottled wine bears little semblance to the en primeur sample, which is a very good thing. There is real density and weight here, with all of the natural richness of the year.
Drink 2026 - 2043
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (March 2021)
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot. Barrel sample.
Black core with barely a rim. So wonderfully scented, like the Clerc Milon. Blackcurrant tea, pure cassis, almost floral, but so pretty. Firm and dry but super-refined on the palate, dry tannic finesse. Finely balanced for the long term. Dark and savoury and full of such refined elegance and dark finesse. A beauty.
Drink 2028 - 2038
Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com (April 2019)
The 2018 Duhart-Milon is composed of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot. With 14% alcohol, it has a deep garnet-purple color and a seductively ripe, opulent nose of plum preserves, blackberry pie, and chocolate-covered cherries with hints of spice cake, potpourri, sandalwood, and eucalyptus oil. Medium-bodied, it is jam-packed with rich, spicy black fruit preserves, floral accents, and a velvety texture, finishing long and fragrant. So. Good.
Drink 2023 - 2040
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (May 2021)
Sweet berries and cherries are on the nose, along with sweet tobacco, lead pencil, and blackcurrants. It’s full-bodied and very rich, with layers of fruit and creamy tannins intertwined. Extremely long and creamy. Great Duhart.
Try after 2026
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (January 2021)
I was slightly disappointed in the 2018 Château Duhart-Milon, and while it's certainly a beautiful wine, it's not in the same league as the 2009, as I thought when tasting it from barrel. Nevertheless, it has impressive notes of red and black currants, new leather, tobacco leaf, and lead pencil shavings to go with a medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, elegant style on the palate. It has some up-front appeal, as the tannins are ripe and polished, yet it will improve over the coming 4-6 years or so and should hold nicely for 20 years or more.
Drink 2025 - 2045
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (March 2021)
About this WINE
Chateau Duhart-Milon
Château Duhart Milon is a Pauillac estate owned by Domaines Barons de Rothschild that produces on average 28,000 cases of wine per year. The wine chais are located in Pauillac town and the property has a similar climate to that enjoyed by the Médoc: maritime, with the Gironde estuary and the Bay of Biscay combining to act as a climate regulator and the coastal pine forests sheltering the vines from the westerly and north-westerly winds.
Duhart Milon Rothschild's vineyards (Cabernet Sauvignon 65%, Merlot 30%and Cabernet Franc 5%) border Lafite Rothschild. Vinification includes oak ageing, up to 40% new.
Duhart Milon Rothschild is classified as a 4ème Cru Classé.
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
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot.
There is a wind of change at Lafite this year, and the first evidence is this more open-textured and seductively styled Duhart. Now working with Bruno Prats, Saskia de Rothschild, the 31-year-old daughter of Eric de Rothschild, is now in charge at Lafite and its other wineries, and she advises that this wine is more indicative of her preferred stylistic direction.
Berry Bros. & Rudd
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