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Wine Description
The Story
Located in the northern part of the Pauillac appellation, Clerc-Milon is one of eighteen Cinquièmes Crus (Fifth Growths) and faces Château Lafite Rothschild across the Route des Châteaux.
Having become increasingly fragmented through sell-offs, it was acquired in 1970 by Baron Philippe de Rothschild, of Mouton Rothschild fame, as a doup with great potential, and he immediately set about renovating the estate, constructing a new vat house and weaving his well documented magic on the châteaus imagery.
The vat house is the first in Bordeaux to claim High Environmental Quality certification. The 45-hectare vineyard is planted in 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% of Carménère, the latter consisting of vines that were planted back in 1947.
Clerc-Milon is now making the best wines in its history, beguiling, classically-styled expressions of currant, blackberry and spice, and can boast an outstanding run of recent vintages.
Vintage 1996
1996 presents itself as a “classic” Bordeaux year, although – as Jancis Robinson MW wrote – not in the “lean” sense; Although Farr Vintners director Tom Hudson told the drinks industry it may have been a "very good" rather than "really great" year as it was not uniformly excellent across the region .
As a reminder, 1996 was a particularly promising vintage for Médoc wines. The Berry Bros & Rudd website boasts: “This is one of the great post-war vintages for Médoc Cabernet wines. These are rich, complex and beautifully balanced wines, full of ripe, pure fruit and with the structure that will allow the best wines to age over the next decade and beyond.
The Right Bank, on the other hand, is described as “distinguished” but “overshadowed” by the 95s – which was a particularly good vintage for Saint Emilion and Pomerol.
It was also an excellent vintage for white Bordeaux.
Robert Parker's scores tend to favor the Left Bank, although some of the best Right Bank wines have also received very respectable reviews.
Only two wines received 100 points: Lafite and Latour, Margaux was ranked 99, Léoville Las Cases 98, Ducru Beaucaillou 96 and Pichon-Comtesse 96.
La Mondotte was the highest rated right bank wine with 97 points, Ausone was the second highest rated with 93, as was L'Eglise Clinet, while Gomerie, Petrus and Le Pin settled for 92 and Cheval Blanc 90 .
With almost 20 years, the wines have naturally appreciated and now that they are well within their drinking window, demand will almost certainly start to push prices even higher for the most in demand among them.
The figures are often impressive, to date Lafite has seen an increase of 657.9% since its release, its second wine Carruades is up 592%, Latour is up 437%, Petrus is up 400% and Pichon Baron is up 240%. %.
