Château Duhart-Milon
The vintage
Winter, with its 500 mm of rainfall, allowed for good replenishment of groundwater reserves. In March, the cold delayed budburst until between April 5 and 19. Spring was rainy, encouraging the onset of mildew. In May, the warmth greatly stimulated vine growth. Flowering took place around May 25 under good conditions. June turned tropical, requiring strict organic protection against downy mildew. The long-awaited veraison began in early August. Two heatwaves followed (from August 15 to 25 and from September 2 to 10), accelerating ripening and bringing beneficial stress. Château Duhart-Milon was not spared from the challenges of the vintage. In August, significant intra-parcel variability was observed, both in the young vines replanted since 2016 and in the older plots. The late August heatwaves evened out ripeness levels and ideally accompanied the harvest, which took place from August 20 to October 3. Once again, the young vines impressed with their ability to fall in step with the older ones and integrate into the Grand Vin.
Location
Pauillac is located on the left bank of the Gironde estuary, approximately 40km north of Bordeaux. With the tempering influence of the estuary and a great diversity of soils originating from both the Massif Central and the Pyrenees, Pauillac boasts exceptional climate and geological conditions for the production of outstanding wines.
Terroir
Château Duhart-Milon’s vineyard consists of a single block of vines adjacent to Château Lafite Rothschild, on the hillside to the west of the Carruades plateau. The property has 76 hectares of vines. The soil consists of fine gravel mixed with aeolian sand on a tertiary limestone.
Winemaking
Château Duhart-Milon is made according to traditional Bordeaux methods. The grapes are carefully sorted and placed in concrete or stainless-steel vats depending on their provenance for alcoholic fermentation. Gentle pumping over is carried out during fermentation to optimize extraction. Total maceration time is about 20 days before racking. Following this rigorous selection, the wine is blended and transferred to oak barrels (50% new).
Once the wines have undergone malolactic fermentation, they are transferred to French oak barrels made by the Tonnellerie des Domaines in Pauillac. Each barrel is tasted individually in December in order to determine which ones will be selected for the grand vin.
Grapes
Tasting
The open nose is a millefeuille of fruits: licorice, blackcurrant, and cherry pit compete for dominance, never quite succeeding. It is a nose one never tires of, full of childhood memories. You can sense the smell of prunes being loaded into the ovens, the aroma of our grandmothers’ kitchens when they made jam, and the scent of an old bachelor’s jam jar that our grandfathers sometimes let us sneak a taste from.
The palate is already perfectly structured: a powerful attack gently carries us, almost surprisingly, toward a finish full of freshness, with rich, elegant tannins already softened by aging.
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