96pts Wine Enthusiast

This opulent wine is as bold with its fruit as with its tannins. The initial velvet texture masks the dense structure that will allow it to age impressively. Blackberry flavors, acidity and intense richness are coming together in a welter of ripe fruits. Drink from 2026.

96pts Decanter

This is an extremely successful Clerc Milon in a run of great vintages at the property. Lovely purity, clear big tannins, and real poise and tension. Persistent, succulent, full of cassis, liquorice and crushed mint. Seriously impressive and will go the distance. Harvest from 17 September to 10 October. Blend completed by 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Carmenère. Drinking Window 2026 - 2045

96pts Wilfred Wong of Wine.com

The 2018 Château Clerc Milon is one of this vintage's rock stars. TASTING NOTES: This wine excels with outstanding aromas and flavors of black fruit and oak, as well as other indescribable nuances. Give it a few years in the cellar before opening.

95pts James Suckling

Blackcurrants, tobacco, graphite, cloves and dried leaves on the nose. It’s medium-to full-bodied with firm, tightly knit tannins. Structured and compact with a long, mineral finish. Tight and austere. Very pretty structure here. Wait until 2025.

94pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2018 Clerc Milon is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Carménère. Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, it has a very pure, beautifully delineated nose of crushed blackcurrants, fresh black plums and boysenberries with hints of wild thyme, damp soil, tar and black olives. The medium to full-bodied palate offers taut, muscular black fruit with loads of savory layers and a firm, grainy texture, finishing long and mineral tinged. Rating: 94+

93pts Wine Spectator

This throws off a lovely stream of violet and cassis aromas and flavors that are sleek and pure in feel, picking up dark cherry, iron and sanguine details along the way. Refined and cellarworthy. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Carmenère. Best from 2023 through 2035.

93pts Jeb Dunnuck

From an estate located on the east side of highway D2 and between Château Lafite and Château Mouton Rothschild, the 2018 Château Clerc Milon is a ripe, sexy, full-bodied Pauillac that brings plenty of richness while still staying reasonably elegant. Blackcurrants, blackberries, smoked earth, new leather, and cedary herbs all flow to an impressively endowed, layered Pauillac with chewy tannins, terrific balance, and a great finish. Based on 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, brought up in 50% new French oak, this outstanding 2018 needs 4-6 years of bottle age to round into form and will evolve nicely for 20-25 years.

About the Winery

Chateau Clerc Milon, classified as a Fifth Growth in 1855, consists of 79 acres of vines, planted with the typical varieties of the region: 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Carmenère. Adjoining two Pauillac First Growths, Lafite and Mouton, the estate had become somewhat neglected when it was bought by Baron Phillipe de Rothschild.

Convinced of the wine’s potential, Baron Philippe considered that Château Clerc Milon deserved a “rightful place” alongside the family’s two other wines, Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau d'Armailhac. He acquired the estate in 1970 and embarked on a meticulous renovation of the vineyard, drawing on the remarkable skills of the technical staff at Mouton, while reconstituting the estate by gradually buying up the parcels dispersed over the years from their countless owners.

Vines were replanted by staff from Chateau Mouton Rothschild, parcels were consolidated and many technical improvements were made, including the building of a new vat room. To renew the wine’s image and identity, he successively illustrated the Château Clerc Milon label with two decorative works by 17th and 18th century German goldsmiths taken from the Museum of Wine in Art at Chateau Mouton Rothschild: a Jungfraubecher, a silver-gilt marriage cup, until the 1982 vintage, then a pair of dancers made of precious stones. These efforts are now bearing fruit and Chateau Clerc Milon has become one of the most sought-after Médoc wines, displaying a richness and depth comparable with the region's finest.