Suave, elegant and calmly confident. A masterclass in high-definition winemaking where all the elements are presented harmoniously with structure, freshness, complexity and a wide expansive finish. Tannins are well integrated giving support to the shining black Cabernet fruit that has strength, power and concentration but delivered underneath the savoury salinity, liquorice spice and minerality. There’s something very special about this. I love the sense of discretion, a wine that knows it has star quality but it’s not shouting about it. Pure and poised - incredibly inviting! A great buy. Drinking Window: 2027 - 2056
Tasted by: Georgina Hindle (at Bordeaux, 03 Jan 2023)
Part of Bordeaux 2020 in bottle: overview plus top-scoring wines

This is so refined with beautiful currant, berry and some subtle chocolate and coffee. It’s full and very subtle with fine tannins that have a long finish. Such purity and finesse with structure. Fresh and savory. 72% cabernet sauvignon and 28% merlot.

Lots of tobacco, damp earth, chocolate, and lead pencil notes define the 2020 Château Duhart-Milon. Medium to full-bodied, it has a beautifully balanced mouthfeel, loads of blue and black fruits, and ripe yet certainly present tannins. Its relatively plush, rounded style is not too dissimilar from the 2016, but it offers ample structure as well. The blend is 72% Cabernet Sauvignon and 28% Merlot, and it hit 13% natural alcohol. This is another classic, concentrated, impressive wine from this team.

Earthy in nature, the wine lifts off with its cigar wrapper, forest leaf, tobacco, peppery spice and sweet red currant profile. Medium-bodied, elegant, silky and fresh, with a beautiful symmetry and balance, along with freshness, length and purity in the fruits, this is a top vintage for Duhart Milon. The wine is a blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon and 28% Merlot. This is the first vintage made in the new cellars, which for the first time allow for parcel by parcel vinification. 93-95

The 2020 Duhart-Milon, the maiden vintage crafted in the new cellar, has a glorious, unashamedly seductive bouquet with pure blackberry, pressed violet and light vanilla pod aromas that are beautifully defined. You know, this could dupe you into thinking it came from the Right Bank! The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins and here we revert back to the Left Bank thanks to its prominent graphite seam. Finely balanced, quite silky smooth towards the finish, this is an excellent Pauillac that punches above my expectations in barrel.

The 2020 Duhart-Milon is a powerful wine, with Cabernet Sauvignon driving the blends with tons of savory and earthy character. Dark cherry, dried herbs, scorched earth, tobacco, licorice and menthol are all laced together. This virile, somber Pauillac needs time in bottle to blossom. I won't be surprised if it is even better in another few years' time. This opens beautifully with time.

(72% CS, 28% M; 65% harvest)
Dense, mineral-etched, fine Cabernet Sauvignon nose; full but restrained in proportions, fresh in acidity, very fine in tannin, a lovely harmonious balance; freshly, sweetly ripe, long and fine-textured to taste, restrained in the Lafite mode, remarkably supple, full of ease and charm, but no lack of class, with a fine, almost stony, mineral background and superb length. A most complete, understated Duhart, with effortlesssly integrated acidity and beautiful tannins. So fine-textured that it will be accessible relatively early. A first-rate expression of the year. 2028–40+.

Drink Date
2024 - 2039

Reviewed by Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2020 Duhart-Milon comes skipping out of the glass with vibrant notes of crushed black cherries, black raspberries and plum preserves, plus an exotic spice undercurrent of cumin seed, star anise and cardamom, with an earthy touch of black truffles. The medium-bodied palate delivers mouth-coating, juicy black fruits with a plush texture and just enough freshness, finishing long and spicy.

The blend this year is 72% Cabernet Sauvignon and 28% Merlot, with the alcohol coming in at 13.1%.

72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot. Cask sample.
Power and definition but elegance as well. Tight and retrained initially then opens to blackcurrant with aeration. Fruit dense on the palate, a profusion of super-fine tannins providing a velvety texture as well as freshness. Long ageing. Possibly the best Duhart yet. (JL)