This is classical in style with lead pencil and sweet tobacco to the currant and plum undertones. Warm and cool at the same time. Full-bodied, tight and reserved with very polished, creamy tannins. It goes on and on. Compact, creamy texture. Try after 2023.

A brilliantly elegant, suave Duhart, one of the successes of the appellation for me. This is a classically structured Duhart, a wine that is not overly exuberant but that has a sense of direction and balance, and is well held together. There's a very attractive quality to the tannins, joined by dark bilberry fruits that gain weight through the palate. It doesn't quite have the dense concentration and richness of 2016, but that was an exceptional vintage. This is a wine that I look forward to following as it ages. Around 5% frost on the northwest corner, affecting the Merlot for the second wine (not tasted). But overall the vintage was so early that even though the September rains probably brought alcohol levels down a touch, they did not unduly worry as the fruit was already ripe enough. 3.75pH. 50% new oak. 38hl/ha yield.

(92-94) A medium-bodied wine with an emphasis on the stylish black raspberry and cassis core, there is softness, sophistication and purity with refined tannins and tender fruit in the finish. The wine was made from a meld of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot.

Features an alluring perfume, with singed alder, warmed currant preserve and smoldering bay leaf notes forming the core. Dark earth and mulled fig flavors fill in through the finish. A solid bolt of iron keeps everything moving in the same direction. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2022 through 2038. — JM

The 2017 Chateau Duhart-Milon is terrific, offering tons of Pauillac character in its smoked tobacco, blackcurrant, new leather, and spicy, earthy aromas and flavors. Rich, medium to full-bodied, and beautifully textured, it has the forward, elegant, classic style of the vintage and will continue drinking beautifully for 20-25 years or more. It’s a hidden gem in the vintage I’d be thrilled to have in the cellar.

Blended of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, the 2017 Duhart-Milon is deep garnet-purple colored and comes tumbling freely out of the glass with open, expressive black plums, Black Forest cake and blueberry compote notes plus savory wafts of woodsmoke, beef drippings, black olives and cumin seed with an emerging touch of cassis. Medium-bodied, the palate is jam-packed with juicy black plum flavors and a plush texture, lifted by seamless freshness, finishing spicy. Nicely done.- LPB