2003 Château Duhart-Milon Pauillac, Bordeaux, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

The great wine of Château Duhart-Milon is often described as a model of the Pauillac appellation. The appreciation of the broker Guillaume Lawton, from 1815, illustrates it well "...it presents itself with a lot of firmness, good color and quite pronounced sap", (the "sap" of the first growths of the Médoc is nicely defined as "something of the smell emanating from the burning of the best sealing wax").

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

The Rothschild family acquired Château Duhart-Milon, a “4er Cru” in the 1855 classification, from the Castejas of Pauillac, in 1962. The property was named after the Sieur of Duhart, gun-runner to Louis XIV, who originally owned the property, and from the name of the little hamlet of Milon which separates the Duhart-Milon vineyard from that of Château Lafite. The vineyard covers 188 acres and is planted with the classical cépages of Médoc: Cabernet Sauvignon (67%) and Merlot (33%). The property has been managed since 1962 by a single team that, due to the proximity of the two properties, oversees both Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Duhart-Milon. Both Châteaux use the same traditional techniques based on strict control of yields, harvesting by hand, and numerous manual tasks throughout the year.