Château Duhart-Milon
The vintage
On the eve of the celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of the acquisition of Château Lafite by the Rothschild family, our teams faced major challenges due to the capricious weather conditions. From December to July, unremitting rain increased the risk of mildew and hail. The summer only really started in mid-July with very high, sometimes extreme heat, which helped to restore the vines’ health and set us on the path to a great vintage. Compared to Lafite, Duhart-Milon’s terroir proved to be drier in 2018 for the Cabernet Sauvignon, but the Merlot terroir is more clayey, resulting in two different responses to the weather conditions. The Cabernet Sauvignon suffered from a lack of water over the summer, but some rain on 28th August and 5th September helped to restore the grapes’ balance and for them to ripen correctly. The Merlot’s more clayey terroir proved to be particularly well suited to the vintage, enabling some of the finest Merlot ever seen at Duhart to be obtained: a promising result for our Grand Vin, which always contains a considerable proportion of Merlot.
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
Beautiful dark red colour with glints of black.
The nose is still closed but presents all the characteristics of superb aromatic potential. Depth, complexity and oaky notes are already perfectly integrated.
On the palate the attack is soft and silky. Then, gradually, with the same softness, the wine invades the mouth, slowly revealing its fresh character, typical of Duhart-Milon’s late-ripening terroir. A very dense wine with tight, delicate tannins creating excellent length on the palate. All the necessary qualities for a very promising future.
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