In the early 18th century, Pauillac district began widespread grape cultivation at the urging of the owners of Lafite. The Milon wines served as additional income for Lafite’s master, and became Château Lafite’s second wine. So early on, the soil was acknowledged as being of particularly high quality. Lafite’s owner at that time was the Marquis Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur, whom Louis XV referred to as “The Wine Prince.”
In 1815, the courtier Guillaume Lawton was already talking about Mandavy-Milon from the Milon hills as a fourth growth Pauillac wine in the making. Between 1830 and 1840, the Castéja family was left an inheritance by both Mandavy and the Duhart widow (14 hectares). The family thus possessed a 40-hectare vineyard that was named Duhart-Milon. The oral tradition of the Castéja family presents “Sir Duhart” as a pirate of Louis XV settled at Pauillac for retirement. The “pirate’s house” on the Pauillac port existed up to the 1950’s, and inspired the label for the Duhart-Milon wines.
The 1855 classification recognized Duhart-Milon soil’s quality by ranking it as the only 4th growth wine in Pauillac. The Castéja family remained in possession of the estate during the second half of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th century. Château Duhart-Milon was then one of largest Pauillac estates with around 50 hectares. 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 frost in 1956.
The quality of the Château’s wines was also declining until the Rothschild family purchased the property in 1962. Duhart-Milon then included 110 hectares, of which only 17 hectares were vineyards. Major construction projects were then brought into the vineyards: draining, uprooting and replanting, purchase of adjacent plots, and reintegrating the vineyards by trading plots. New chais and tank rooms were installed in Pauillac.
The vineyards grew from 42 hectares to 71 hectares between 1973 and 2001. Today, the new vines are all mature, and the renovation of the chais adds a finishing touch to a remarkable 40-year effort that reclaimed the Médoc 4th growth wine ranking for Château Duhart-Milon. The quality now having returned to Château Duhart-Milon vintages such as 1986, 1990, 1995, 1996, 2000 and a few others are extremely promising wines.
A geographical and technical proximity with Château Lafite Rothschild
Location: The vineyard covers a nearly unified area on the western side of Château Lafite Rothschild, on the Milon hillside, which protects the Carruades plateau.
Area: 152 hectares, including 71 hectares of vineyards.
Soils: fine gravel mixed with aeolian sands on tertiary limestone bedrock.
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon (69%), Merlot (28%), and Cabernet Franc (3%)
Average age of the vineyard: 28 years
Management of the estate : Charles Chevallier, Technical Director of four Estates
Christophe Congé is in charge of the cellar and Régis Porfilet is in charge of the vineyard
The property has been managed by a single team since 1962, which supervises Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Duhart-Milon, since the two properties and vineyards are adjacent. Both Châteaux use the same techniques based on strict mastery of yields, harvesting by hand, and undertaking many manual projects throughout the year.
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