Château Duhart-Milon

The Rothschild family acquired Château Duhart-Milon, a “4ème Cru Classé” in the 1855 classification, from the Castejas of Pauillac, in 1962. The property was named after the Sieur of Duhart, gun-runner to Louis XIV, who originally owned the property, and from the name of the little hamlet of Milon which separates the Duhart-Milon vineyard from Château Lafite.

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. After a rather mild winter, there were two nights of severe frost in the spring, on 26 and 27 April, which inflicted major damage on Bordeaux’s vineyards. Five hectares were affected among the colder areas of Duhart-Milon’s vineyard. Conditions then became excellent, with higher than usual temperatures and balanced, well-spaced rainfall. Flowering was early, and by mid-June the fruit had set almost two weeks earlier than usual. After some quite heavy rain at the end of June, temperatures remained slightly below average for the rest of the summer. This enabled a slow, steady ripening of the grapes from “mi-véraison” (the middle of the period when the grapes change colour) to mid-September when the harvests began. A final rainy spell from 10 to 20 September disrupted the otherwise perfect weather, without impacting the quality of the grapes. The wines confirmed great potential, revealing a fairly classic character.

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. Once the wines have undergone malolactic fermentation, they are transferred to French oak barrels (50% new), 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.

Beautiful dark red color. The nose presents all the characteristics of superb aromatic potential. Depth, complexity and oaky notes are already perfectly integrated. On the palate the attack is pure and delicate. The palate evolves with substantial volume, power yet lightness and length, typical of Duhart-Milon’s late-ripening terroir. A very long wine perfectly balanced on the finish.