Château Duhart-Milon 2021

Black fruit and toast aromas give this wine its perfumed character. It is generous—celebrating Cabernet Sauvignon—and structured, dominated by succulent blackberry fruits. It has aging potential. Drink from 2027. Roger Voss. January 2024.

Tobacco, green pepper, eucalyptus, subtle violet perfume too - black pepper and the crushed stone aspect. Smooth and super silky, this is round with a lovely definition to the fruit, so clean and pure, with an appealing creaminess that comes across as flavour but also texture. The tannins are well integrated, just cushioning the fruit but providing the silky carpet on which they travel from start to finish. This does have a darker core also with a liquorice, sweet tobacco and coffee granule aspect from the Cabernet coming through and settling on the tongue giving a piquance but there's excellent harmony here. Supple and succulent with excellent clarity - really very characterful, I love it. A high percentage of Cabernet in the blend this year, usually between 60-70%. Drinking window: 2026 - 2049. Georgina Hindle. April 2022.

The blackberries, blueberries and currants are very impressive, with flowers and an undertone of lead pencil. Cedar and sandalwood. Medium body, with very fine tannins that are focused and refined. Lovely length. Elegant and almost Burgundian. 81% cabernet sauvignon and 19% merlot. Very drinkable now but will age wonderfully. April 2024.

Couleur sombre, intense, vive et pourpre. Nez très aromatique, fin, pur, fruité et légèrement fumé. Dès l'attaque le vin offre une sensation inédite de chair aérienne. Il fond au palais, juteux et noble dans son toucher. Tout est calme et reposé. C'est délicieux et impossible à cracher. Sensation de luxe. Février 2024.

Incorporating fully 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2021 Duhart-Milon unwinds in the glass with aromas of sweet berries, cigar wrapper and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, lively and persuasively concentrated, with beautifully refined tannins and a long, penetrating finish, it's a classy, serious wine that reflects all the progress this estate has been making over the last decade. Duhart-Milon's vineyards are later-maturing than Lafite's, and the soils are less inherently balanced: the clay-rich parts of the vineyard are richer in clay than at Lafite, and the gravel-rich parts of the vineyard are richer in gravel—whereas Lafite's predominantly gravel soils sometimes contain more than 10% clay. That explains why Duhart-Milon historically often produced leaner wines than Lafite, with less mid-palate amplitude; but a warming climate and more attention to viticultural detail (sowing cover crops, for example, in clay-rich parts of the vineyard) are mitigating these disadvantages, and recent vintages have seen this estate attain new qualitative heights. As at all the Domaines Barons de Rothschild properties, winemaking and élevage are very classical, with regular rackings and the majority of the barriques derived from the in-house cooperage (emphasizing lightly toasted Allier and Nevers oak seasoned for 24 months), and as at Lafite, Cabernet is very much in the ascendant here, something that the 2021 vintage has only amplified. 91-93/100. William Kelley. April 2022.

81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot Duhart-Milon 2021 se révèle avec finesse et pluralité. Les nuances de graphite couplées à des notes de garrigues assurent la fraîcheur. Caressant et velouté en attaque, le vin est linéaire et soutenu par des tannins puissants. Les éléments ne sont pas encore calés, pas vraiment en place mais la puissance et la structure sont là. L’aromatique tant au niveau du bouquet et du palais ne sont pas (encore) au RDV. Je ne peux pas confirmer ma note primeurs pour l’instant. 91-92/100. Novembre 2023.