by Bill Spohn » Sun Dec 13, 2020 2:58 pm
1988 Ch. Clerc Milon – I had the opportunity to visit the sales outlet (this and the Armailhac are serviced at the Mouton chateau) and taste their wines back in the early 90s and I wonder if this wasn’t the vintage I tasted! I opened the bottle and decanted it a couple of hours before dinner (a prime rib roast) and was very pleasantly surprised when I tasted it as my expectations had been fairly modest.
I should say that I love the trio of 1988, 1989 and 1990, but the 88 is clearly the least of those although nonetheless often excellent.
It was darker than I had expected, and the nose was plummy dark fruit and spice with a significant cedar/lead pencil component. In the mouth, the depth and weight surprised me a bit and the tannins although resolved, were still present and in proportion.
Nice long finish and the whole experience made me want to check the label again to make sure I wasn’t tasting a much bigger wine. Sometimes we just get lucky! Now I just need a couple of people, one with an 88 Armailhac and one with a Mouton of the same year to show up so we can do a comparative tasting! Either that or a 1988,1989 and 1990 vertical tasting.....