Chateau Clerc Milon 2023

The 2023 Château Clerc Milon is a classic Fifth Growth Pauillac red blend from Bordeaux, France, comprised of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 6.5% Cabernet Franc, 1.5% Carménère, and 1% Petit Verdot.

Features notes of cassis, dark currants, graphite, blackcurrant, and chocolate with chalky limestone undertones.

Drinking Window: Recommended to age 4–6 years, peaking roughly between 2029 and 2053.

Wine Advocate: 94
The 2023 Clerc Milon is quite a muscular wine for the vintage, bursting with aromas of cassis, ripe mulberries, violets and pencil shavings. Medium- to full-bodied, broad and layered, it's girdled by the lively acids and ripe but chalky tannins that often seem to define this clay-limestone terroir. It's a blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 6.5% Cabernet Franc and the balance Carmenère and Petit Verdot.

Wine Advocate: 94

The 2023 Clerc Milon is quite a muscular wine for the vintage, bursting with aromas of cassis, ripe mulberries, violets and pencil shavings. Medium- to full-bodied, broad and layered, it's girdled by the lively acids and ripe but chalky tannins that often seem to define this clay-limestone terroir. It's a blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 6.5% Cabernet Franc and the balance Carmenère and Petit Verdot.

Decanter: 96
Strong intense nose, some herbal markers and blackcurrants. Gorgeous vibrant colour in the glass, vivid purple rim. Round and full - rich for the vintage, a lovely weight to the texture, yes it’s straight and streamlined but it also has juicy and plummy fruit, acidity that isn't too pronounced or too overt and tannins that grip and take hold. Clean and clear, perhaps not the longest of them all, but there’s an enjoyable lingering wet stone, chalky minerality on the finish. Straight and well defined, this has some chew which I also like, and with time in oak, this will expand. Lots on offer! 1.5% Carménère and 1% Petit Verdot complete the blend. 59% grand vin production.

Decanter: 96

Strong intense nose, some herbal markers and blackcurrants. Gorgeous vibrant colour in the glass, vivid purple rim. Round and full - rich for the vintage, a lovely weight to the texture, yes it’s straight and streamlined but it also has juicy and plummy fruit, acidity that isn't too pronounced or too overt and tannins that grip and take hold. Clean and clear, perhaps not the longest of them all, but there’s an enjoyable lingering wet stone, chalky minerality on the finish. Straight and well defined, this has some chew which I also like, and with time in oak, this will expand. Lots on offer! 1.5% Carménère and 1% Petit Verdot complete the blend. 59% grand vin production.

Vinous: 94
The 2023 Clerc Milon was picked from September 7 to 29 and is matured in 55% new oak. It has much more fruit concentration on the nose than the Pastorelle—quite precocious, with blackberry and cassis fruit. It's floral and more flamboyant than the d'Armailhac. The palate is very well balanced with a slightly creamy texture and a lovely mouthfeel. Its concentration is neatly counterbalanced by the acidity, and it feels very harmonious and long on the finish. Superb. If Mouton-Rothschild is beyond your budget—yes, I am familiar with that feeling—then this is where you should look.

Vinous: 94

The 2023 Clerc Milon was picked from September 7 to 29 and is matured in 55% new oak. It has much more fruit concentration on the nose than the Pastorelle—quite precocious, with blackberry and cassis fruit. It's floral and more flamboyant than the d'Armailhac. The palate is very well balanced with a slightly creamy texture and a lovely mouthfeel. Its concentration is neatly counterbalanced by the acidity, and it feels very harmonious and long on the finish. Superb. If Mouton-Rothschild is beyond your budget—yes, I am familiar with that feeling—then this is where you should look.

James Suckling: 96
Dark olives, black cherries, paprika and a floral twist on the nose. Fine, precise tannins on the palate, with good juicy fruit. It shows good finesse and balance, with a long, nuanced finish. 72% cabernet sauvignon, 19% merlot, 6.5% cabernet franc, 1.5% carmenere and 1% petit verdot.

Jeb Dunnuck: 94
Coming from the deep, gravelly soils of Pauillac and harvested after the September rains, the 2023 Château Clerc Milon has an ultra-classic Cabernet Sauvignon nose of cassis, darker currants, graphite, scorched earth, and lead pencil. This carries to a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, focused Pauillac offering integrated acidity, ripe, polished tannins, and a great finish. It will need 4-6 years of bottle age and should be long-lived.

Jeb Dunnuck: 94

Coming from the deep, gravelly soils of Pauillac and harvested after the September rains, the 2023 Château Clerc Milon has an ultra-classic Cabernet Sauvignon nose of cassis, darker currants, graphite, scorched earth, and lead pencil. This carries to a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, focused Pauillac offering integrated acidity, ripe, polished tannins, and a great finish. It will need 4-6 years of bottle age and should be long-lived.