Château Clerc Milon Pauillac 2023

Dark olives, black cherries, paprika and a floral twist on the nose. Fine, precise tannins on the palate, with good juicy fruit. It shows good finesse and balance, with a long, nuanced finish. 72% cabernet sauvignon, 19% merlot, 6.5% cabernet franc, 1.5% carmenere and 1% petit verdot.

The 2023 Clerc Milon is quite a muscular wine for the vintage, bursting with aromas of cassis, ripe mulberries, violets and pencil shavings. Medium- to full-bodied, broad and layered, it's girdled by the lively acids and ripe but chalky tannins that often seem to define this clay-limestone terroir. It's a blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 6.5% Cabernet Franc and the balance Carmenère and Petit Verdot.

Coming from the deep, gravelly soils of Pauillac and harvested after the September rains, the 2023 Château Clerc Milon has an ultra-classic Cabernet Sauvignon nose of cassis, darker currants, graphite, scorched earth, and lead pencil. This carries to a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, focused Pauillac offering integrated acidity, ripe, polished tannins, and a great finish. It will need 4-6 years of bottle age and should be long-lived.

The 2023 Clerc Milon was picked from September 7 to 29 and is matured in 55% new oak. It has much more fruit concentration on the nose than the Pastorelle—quite precocious, with blackberry and cassis fruit. It's floral and more flamboyant than the d'Armailhac. The palate is very well balanced with a slightly creamy texture and a lovely mouthfeel. Its concentration is neatly counterbalanced by the acidity, and it feels very harmonious and long on the finish. Superb. If Mouton-Rothschild is beyond your budget—yes, I am familiar with that feeling—then this is where you should look.