Colin Hay om:
Chateau Clerc Milon Rothschild 5eme Cru
(Pauillac; 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 1% Carmenere, 1% Petit Verdot; pH 3.78; 13.1% ABV; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin and then at Mouton Rothschild with Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy). Charming, gracious and quite distinctive aromatically, with a nuttiness that I was not expecting and a saline note to the minerality too. There's more florality here than when tasted at the UGCB, with much more than just the hint of peony when re-tasted at Mouton. There's also a reassuringly dark, Pauillac, berry and stone fruit signature. There's plenty of graphite too, a little scratch of the pencil sharpener, a hint of the cedar to come and a little liquorice root on the finale. Plump and deep, layered and very classical, but with a crystalline purity that has been rather more recently acquired. I love the beautiful pinch, grip and shape to the fantail finish. We're in 'best ever' territory here.