Chateau Clerc Milon AC Pauillac Grand Cru Classe 2019

JS 96 / WE 96 / Decanter 95 / WA 95 / JD 95 / VM 93 pts

JS: Aromas of crushed stone, blackcurrants and blackberries. Full-bodied with extremely well-crafted tannins that are chewy and layered, yet polished and fantastic. Love the finish. Drink after 2026.

WE: Dense and rich, with a high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon, this is another great vintage from the estate. Its black fruits ooze concentration alongside firm tannins that promise a potential for long aging. The aftertaste has opulent black currant richness.

Decanter : The wine has the highest levels of Cabernet Sauvignon since the 1980s, and even on the nose you can feel its impact in terms of the depth of tight black fruit. Extremely good quality with fine tannins that build, build, build over the palate, and grip on, forcing you to slow down and pay attention. Beautiful spice with menthol, slate, pencil lead, blackberry and blackcurrant. An exciting wine with real energy and forward motion, helped to withstand the summer heat by its position by the river, and the fact that the average age of the vines at Clerc Milon is almost 50 years. 2% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Jean Emmanuel Danjoy’s last outing doing the full vintage at Clerc Milon before he heads over to Mouton as technical director.

WA: The 2019 Clerc Milon is a real success. At more than 70%, this blend contains one of the highest proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon in the property’s recent history, and the result is a wine of real nobility. Offering up aromas of violets, wild berries, licorice, loamy soil and cigar wrapper, it’s full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, with notable depth at the core, lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins that assert themselves on the finish. From clay-limestone soils rather than the sandy gravels that characterize d’Armailhac, this is by some margin the more structured and serious of Mouton-Rothschild’s two Pauillac stablemates.

JD: The top wine, the 2019 Château Clerc Milon is based on 72% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. More intensity and dark fruit emerge from the glass, and it has an elegant, medium to full-bodied style as well as classy Pauillac spice, cedar pencil, tobacco, and assorted darker fruits. It reminds me of the 2014 with its more elegant, charming style.

VM: The 2019 Clerc Milon contains a higher percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon (72%) as more of their sélection massale comes “on line”. It is quite intense on the nose, a mixture of red and black fruit, sous-bois and traces of tobacco. There is a fullness to the aromatics that I appreciate, hints of brown spice emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. This is not a bold, structured Clerc Milon. This feels elegant and refined, gently building to a lightly spiced finish with judicious cracked black pepper and clove notes. Understated and classy. Tasted twice with consistent notes.