2009 Chateau Duhart Milon Pauillac Grand Cru Classe 750 ml

Last week, Wine Access was offered 114 bottles of Lafite-Rothschild’s 2009 Château Duhart-Milon, a Robert Parker 97-pointer that The Wine Advocate called “the single smartest purchase in this great and historic vintage.”

We took them all. Of course. Perfectly cellared, and direct from the cool Lafite-Rothschild headquarters, where they’ve rested for a decade. 

We’ll never forget the scene in 2010, when we first discovered this singular wine. The late Denis Dubourdieu prepared to address a crowd of some 300 wine professionals prior to the en primeur tastings of the 2009 Bordeaux, and the room fell silent.  

Dubourdieu, who headed up the enology department at l’Université de Bordeaux, went on to describe the five elements of a perfect growing season.  

1. Early flowering
2. A warm, dry growing season providing for a uniform set
3. Early veraison 
4. Complete ripening 
5. Dry, mild temperatures in the weeks just before harvest

In a vintage that Robert Parker would compare favorably to both 1959 and 1929, 2009 was five for five.

Perhaps the best example lay in the heart of Pauillac, where Château Lafite-Rothschild turned out a phenomenal 2009 from their sister property, Duhart-Milon. Wine Advocate described the 2009 Château Duhart-Milon as “inky/blue/purple color as well as a big, sweet nose of creme de cassis, forest floor, licorice, lead pencil, cedar and subtle barrique smells. Viscous and full-bodied, it is the most concentrated and broadest example of this cuvee I have tasted in over three decades.”  

Then Parker lobbed on a final flourish that made the 2009 Château Duhart-Milon one of the most sought-after bottles of the vintage: “Consumers looking to maximize value should be checking out Duhart-Milon, as this may be the single smartest purchase in this great and historic vintage!”

Re-tasted last week, we fell in love with Duhart-Milon all over again. Still purple at the core, this Pauillac is bursting with life and teeming with gorgeous secondary aromatics ranging from effusive black currant and blackberry preserves to dried violets, star anise, tilled earth, and truffle. With classic Left Bank power and First Growth finesse, it is staggeringly long on the palate where its flavors of black fruit are impossible to separate from the exotic spice, tobacco, and earthy secondary notes that make fine Bordeaux legendary. 

Drawn directly from Lafite’s faintly lit cellars in Pauillac, we’re thrilled to have what is likely our last allocation from this benchmark estate’s top-vintage release. This time, the cellaring has been done for you.