The 2020 Château Clerc Milon stands out with its elegant structure and depth, showcasing a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon and 36% Merlot. This wine is complex, with aromas of dark berries, cigar wrapper, and exotic spices. The palate is fleshy and layered, offering a silky mouthfeel with flavors of blackcurrant and bilberry, backed by lively acidity and refined tannins. The finish is long, saline, and violet-inflected, promising great aging potential. This vintage is particularly refined and full-bodied, with excellent balance and a seamless structure, making it a standout of the decade.

JamesSuckling.com | JS 97
Published: Mar 31, 2023

Blackcurrants, black licorice, violets and lavender. Aromatic and perfumed. Full- to medium-bodied with tension and focus, and very fine, linear tannins that run the length of the wine. Starting to close now. Serious Clerc. Better after 2029.

Decanter | D 95
Published: Jan 2, 2023
Drink: 2025-2042

Subtle, delicate, not shouting but delivering a really nuanced glass of wine with lots of fresh acidity and soft sweetness but also a herbal element giving spiced red fruits in the glass. Feels less serious than d'Armailhac, more upfront and open, but lovely detail too. Soft, such high acidity, really so lifted in the glass, a lovely purity, clean and clear. I love the grippy tannins that almost clean the palate leaving a crushed velvet texture on the tongue with lots of generosity. Super appealing and already very pleasant and pleasing to drink.

Closure: Cork
Alcohol: 13.30%
Body: Full
Oak: Oaked
Grapes: 8% Cabernet Franc 53% Cabernet Sauvignon 37% Merlot

The Wine Advocate | RP 94+
Published: Apr 6, 2023
Date: 2027-2055

Aromas of dark berries, cigar wrapper, exotic spices and burning embers introduce the 2020 Clerc Milon, a medium to full-bodied, fleshy and layered wine that's seamless, concentrated and refined, with lively acids and a long, saline, violet-inflected finish. A blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and the balance Petit Verdot, it's a terrific effort from this clay-limestone terroir that has benefited from so much investment in recent years.

Chateau-clerc-milon.com

One of Château Clerc Milon’s distinctive features is its blend, which combines five typical Bordeaux grape varieties in a true reflection of its vineyard: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Carmenere. Each variety’s contribution is essential but must be in the right proportions to express the best of the estate, vintage after vintage.

Cabernet Sauvignon brings structure and complex aromas and flavours as well as great ageing potential.
Cabernet Franc brings freshness. Its proportion is another distinguishing feature of the wine.
Merlot complements the Cabernets with its full and smooth character as well as its velvety mouthfeel.
The rich and complex array of aromas and flavours is set off by the spice notes of Petit Verdot.
Carmenere gives the best of itself, bringing subtle notes of wilted rose petals and violet. Making up a small proportion of the blend, it is an essential part of Château Clerc Milon.

Vintage 2019

Climatic Conditions
A particularly mild winter and significantly higher than normal temperatures in early spring encouraged early budbreak, about ten days earlier than the long-term average. A snow flurry in late March fortunately had no effect on the vines.
Spring continued to be warmer than usual, with spells of heavy rain, especially in early May. Anticyclonic conditions returned in mid-May, bringing warm and dry weather and significantly accelerating the vegetation cycle, especially during flowering, which occurred 12 days earlier than the average.
Contrasting weather in June gave way to early-summer heatwaves and drought, especially noticeable in July. However, spells of rain in August set off the veraison process and helped the berries to ripen evenly.
The grapes were in perfect condition as picking started. The 2020 harvest was among the earliest on record, favoured by exceptional anticyclonic weather and rising temperatures which brought all grape varieties to full ripeness sooner than usual.
Picking at Château Clerc Milon took place between 9 and 28 September in ideal weather. The grapes were in perfect condition, producing beautifully balanced wines that are very full on the palate, underpinned by powerful yet seamless tannins and displaying great freshness. Although yields were less than generous, the quality of the wines suggests that the 2020 vintage will be one of the great successes of the decade.

Tasting Notes
The wine is a deep cherry red with garnet highlights.
The nose reveals an intense and complex array of aromas on which macerated black fruit mingles with liquorice and cedarwood.
On the attack, the creamy, silky mouthfeel combines depth, density and supreme elegance, leading into a rich and smooth mid-palate on blackcurrant and bilberry flavours illuminated by attractive freshness over a rounded, refined tannic structure.

Varietal mix 2020 Vintage
53%    Cabernet Sauvignon
36.5%    Merlot
8%    Cabernet Franc
2%    Petit Verdot
0,5%    Carmenère