Château Duhart-Milon | Pauillac

In the early 18th century, the Pauillac district began widespread grape cultivation at the urging of the owners of Château Lafite. Consequently, the Milon wines served as additional income for Lafite’s master, and became Château Lafite’s second wine. The 1855 classification recognised the quality of Duhart-Milon’s terroir by ranking it as the only 4th growth wine in Pauillac. 

In 1937, the result of successive inheritances led to the sale of the estate. The property went through five different owners in just 25 years, and the splitting up of the vineyards caused a speedy decline, which was only made worse by the severe frost of 1956. The quality of the Château’s wines declined considerably until the Rothschild family purchased the property in 1962 and the property saw its prestigious classification restored. Duhart-Milon then consisted of 110 hectares, of which only 17 hectares were vines. Major construction projects were then undertaken in the vineyard: draining, uprooting and replanting, the purchase of adjacent plots, and reintegrating the vineyard by trading plots. New cellar and vat rooms were installed in Pauillac. From 1973 to 2001 the vineyard increased from 42 hectares to 71 hectares.

Today, the new vines are all mature, and the renovation of the cellar adds a finishing touch to a remarkable 40-year effort that has restored Château Duhart-Milon to its Médoc 4th growth rank. The promise of the 1990, 1995, 1996 and 2000 vintages has already been confirmed and the renewed quality is expressed in the consistency of the vintages at the highest level. This can be seen in the remarkable potential of all the vintages since 2003.