Ch. Clerc Milon Rothschild (0.75 L)

NM: The 2015 Clerc Milon is a blend of 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc, and 1% each of Petit Verdot and Carmenère, raised in 55% new oak. It has a highly perfumed bouquet with scents of small black cherries, graphite, touches of incense and wilted violets. This is a very extravagant bouquet for Clerc-Milon that wants to make an early impression. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin, more expressive and delineated than the 2015 d’Armailhac, the finish beautifully focused with that graphite seam coming through on the sustained finish. This is potentially an outstanding Clerc-Milon, though it will need a decade in bottle to show its true potential.