2018 Château Duhart-Milon
Community Tasting Note
englishman's claret wrote:
Wednesday, April 27, 2022 - I love tasting wines young after they have arrived in bottle, and the 2018 Duhart Milon is a good reminder of why it’s beneficial to do that at home over a protracted period. 24 hours of air helps this wine develop greatly, allowing the fruit to unfurl and additional nuances to reveal themselves. Furthermore, as the fruit volume expands, it puts the ABV in better balance and surpasses some of the oaky notes which are age-appropriate at this stage of the wine’s life.
The fruit really is beautiful here, mostly on the blacker end of the spectrum, and with a fine natural sweetness that doesn’t feel overdone. There’s a pretty potpourri note that builds with air and some tapenade present on night one fades by night two. The alcohol, initially present on the palate if not the nose (which is interesting as it’s actually quite high, marked at 14.5%) seems better integrated as the fruit expands.
That said, does this offer the appeal of the cool, classically sculpted 2016? Will it keep its balance as long (the ABV poked out before the fruit expanded, so why shouldn’t it again as the fruit fades 20-30 years down the line)?
Drinking 2030-
65% CS / 35% M
14.5% ABV
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2 comments have been posted
6 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (5,821 views)
Comment posted by Vinum_04:
5/11/2022 7:34:00 PM - I’m curious - does this bring any other vintages to mind for you?
Comment posted by englishman's claret:
5/15/2022 8:50:00 AM - 2018 is a quirky year. Parallels between it and other very hot years like 2003 and 2009 can be drawn, but it's true that ideas about balance have also changed in some ways since those vintages generally speaking (as have the people involved at Duhart Milon specifically).