Château Duhart-Milon
It was during the primeur tastings one year that I made my first-ever visit to Château Duhart-Milon. Normally the estate’s barrel samples are tasted at Château Lafite-Rothschild, at that time under the gaze of Charles Chevallier in a rather understated tasting room which had the air of an old scullery. In more recent years the samples have instead been poured in a rather swanky open-plan and fully-glazed tasting and function room, but the point is the same; to taste Château Duhart-Milon, you went to Château Lafite-Rothschild.
This particular year, however, there was building work at Lafite, and as a consequence the tastings were moved to Château Duhart-Milon. This might sound like an exciting diversion, but bear in mind that Château Duhart-Milon is one of the few properties in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux to lack a true château. This was, in essence, a visit to a warehouse. An attractive warehouse, admittedly, but still a warehouse.
The warehouse in question is located off a side street in Pauillac. That this should be the sum of the Château Duhart-Milon facilities does not seem to have any detrimental effect on the quality of the wine, however, which is currently high and still climbing. This surely reflects the fact that in recent years the estate has benefited not only from a programme of revitalising investment following its acquisition by the Rothschilds – shortly before it perhaps disappeared altogether if its rapid rate of shrinkage was anything to judge by – but also the inherent expertise of the Rothschild winemaking team.
