Château Clerc-Milon: Tasting & Drinking
Château Clerc-Milon is an unusual wine. It does not have a huge, vocal following in the way that Château Lynch-Bages does. It does not have the benefit of recent publicity concerning an obvious improvement in quality, with the Parker points to match, in the way that Château Pontet-Canet has. It does, however, command a healthy but admittedly not exorbitant price. When I first came to taste Château Clerc-Milon from the Rothschild era I expected to find some decent but perhaps not superlative examples of Pauillac. What I actually found was an impressive wine; in several vintages a dark, brooding and masculine libation, punching way above its weight. But with it comes none of the cost-enhancing hype that follows some other Bordeaux underlings.
Having said that, with the dramatic wind of change that has swept across the Clerc-Milon vineyards in recent years, I think we can expect to see quality pushed even higher here. Will we see a Pontet-Canet-style rebirth? I’m not so sure about that, but I am sure that with new facilities, and a newly dedicated team paying greater attention to the vineyards and the vinifications, Clerc-Milon is certainly an estate to watch even more closely in future vintages. (19/1/05, updated 29/3/07, 9/5/12, 15/3/14)
Please log in to continue reading: