Enticing inky depths to the colour, slate tannins that are fully in control, adding precision and power to the cassis fruits. As it opens, the austerity recedes and sweet blackberry and loganberry fruit appear, along with a seamless delivery of cocoa bean, sage, cedar, cigar box, eucalyptus leaf. Once again you are aware that it has retained the character of Clerc Milon's early days, coming friom the natural concentration of the soils, but everything has been magnified and heightened. A profound wine that shows the possibilities contained within this site. Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy technical director, 50% new oak.

Hot crushed stones and dark berries jump out of the glass. Full body, very dense fruit and powerful tannins, yet it remains agile and bright with beauty and energy. So muscular and toned. Truly outstanding Clerc for the future. Unwavering nature to this. Try after 2024.

This fifth growth, bought by Mouton-Rothschild in 1970 has been revitalised by the Mouton team in the past decade, especially in the vineyard, and now performs well beyond its classification. Clerc-Milon owns some 41 hectares and in 2011 opened a new, elegantly designed modern winery. A huge majority of the vines are more than 50 years old. In 2016 picking took place from 26 September to 15 October, and the blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot, and 1% Carmenere. The wine is dark, mineral and polished, very sophisticated, precise and pure, with intense ripe fruit and liquorice aromas, and a particularly silky texture.

I was able to taste the 2016 Château Clerc Milon on multiple occasions and it was always brilliant, showing a deep ruby/purple color as well as sexy aromas and flavors of crème de cassis, new saddle leather, spicy oak, and graphite. Deep, powerful and beautifully concentrated, it’s a rock star of a Pauillac that’s going to keep for 30 years or more. The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and Carménère, all aged 16 months in 50% new French oak.

Smoke a cigar in a flower store and surround yourself with a bushel of currants and red plums and you get the idea of the aromatics here. The wine is elegant, soft, silky, refined, and vibrant, with sweetness and purity to the red berries and spice in the finish. Drink from 2023-2040.

94+ The Cabernet Franc was fantastic this year, so it was all used in the grand vin. The final blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Carménère. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Clerc Milon leaps from the glass with beautiful scents of chocolate-covered cherries, plum preserves and crushed blackcurrants with suggestions of lilacs, cardamom, underbrush and unsmoked cigars. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a firm frame of finely grained tannins and seamless freshness lifting the perfumed fruit to a nice long finish. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Dark and concentrated, this wine offers depth and intensity. It has great ripeness as well as fine tannins that are integrated into the fruit. It is so juicy and exuberant that it's hard to remember the tannins that will allow the wine to age. Drink from 2023.

A fresh and stylish version, with chalky minerality running from start to finish. Succulent plum and cassis fruit flavors coil around this and absorbs this easily at first. Then pretty violet and lilac notes guild the finish, with the minerality taking a slightly firmer stand. Best from 2023 through 2035. — JM