Château Clerc Milon

The 2016 harvest / Weather conditions were ideal for the 2016 harvest at Château Clerc Milon. Picking took over three weeks, from 26 September to 15 October, allowing each grape variety to reach optimum maturity. The parcels of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Carmenere were harvested in small crates then sorted, first by hand and then with the optical sorting machine. The grapes are now in vats, where they will stay until vinification is complete and the wine is run off. A warm and sunny summer produced rather small and therefore very concentrated grapes, which herald wines of great colour, density and length. From the first tastings, the technical staff were already talking about a “fantastic vintage” – maybe even exceptional – for Château Clerc Milon.

Part of the vast estates of the seigneury of Lafite in the 18th century, Château Clerc Milon was sold as a “national asset” in the Revolution. The Clerc family acquired it then and joined its name to that of the Pauillac hamlet of Milon where it was located.

The rank of Fifth Growth was bestowed on Château Clerc Milon in the famous 1855 Classification in recognition of its standing, even then, among the elite Médoc châteaux. The vineyard at the time covered some 30 hectares (75 acres).

After the introduction of a gravity-feed vat room in 2007, in 2011 Château Clerc Milon saw the inauguration of a 3,600-sq. m. complex comprising a half-underground barrel hall, a cellar and reception and tasting rooms. The château, a rectangular building in the form of a temple, is encircled by a vast terrace giving onto the vines.

Château Clerc Milon now has 41 hectares (101 acres) of vines in the north-east of the Pauillac appellation, on the lovely Mousset crest overlooking the Gironde. The slight slope favours both natural drainage and exposure to sunlight, while the nearby river creates a microclimate that protects the vines from frost in spring, reduces the risk of hail and brings coolness in summer. The soil is made up of two-thirds deep sandy gravel over a clay-limestone base which outcrops in the eastern part of the estate.

The vineyard is planted with five varieties typical of the region: Cabernet Sauvignon (50%), Merlot (37%), Cabernet Franc (10%), Petit Verdot (2%) and Carmenere (1%). The average age of the vines is 53 years, probably one of the highest in the Medoc. Mostly planted before the development of clonal selection, they represent an exceptionally rich genetic resource. The vine density is high, ranging between 8,500 and 10,000 vines per hectare depending on the parcel.

Environment-friendly integrated vinegrowing techniques are employed, keeping the use of pesticides to a minimum. In the vineyard itself, the close monitoring and strict parcel selection are on a par with those practised at Mouton Rothschild.

A wine with considerable ageing potential, a particularly successful association of gravel and clay-limestone terroirs, of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, powerful, tannic, fruity and harmoniously full-bodied, Château Clerc Milon displays all the typical elegance of the finest Pauillac wines.

In 1988, on Baron Philippe’s death, consolidation of the vineyard was well under way and Clerc Milon had regained its reputation among wine-lovers. However, the technical facilities were limited to a rudimentary vat house, the cellars were located some distance away in the town of Pauillac and the “château” was just a small village house. So it was only right that Baroness Philippine, continuing her father’s work, should include modernisation of the estate in her ambitious plans for the development of the family company.

A new Clerc Milon thus arose in two stages, with the construction of an entirely gravity-feed vat room in 2007 and then, in 2011, a set of buildings with a surface area of nearly 3,600 sq. metres, comprising a half-underground barrel hall, a cellar and reception and tasting rooms. The two designers, the scenographer Richard Peduzzi and the architect Bernard Mazières, came up with a rectangular design in the form of a temple, encircled by a vast terrace giving onto the vines. The materials used – stone, glass and wood – echo the world of wine. The necessary energy is provided by 300 sq. metres of photovoltaic cells, while the same concern for the environment prevails in the vat room.

With its high silhouette, proud façade and ipe wood cladding, Château Clerc Milon now forms an integral part of the Médoc landscape.

Château Clerc Milon wines are aged for 16 to 18 months in oak barrels, 40% of them new. Humidity in the barrel hall is maintained at around 80% by ultrasound humidifiers and the temperature is maintained between 14 and 16° C. Racking is practised once, twice or three times during the maturing period: the clear wine is run off into another barrel to separate it from the lees that have collected at the bottom. The empty barrel is then cleaned and refilled. Traditional fining with egg-white is carried out at the end of the maturing process in order to refine the wine’s tannic structure and complete the clarification process before bottling.