Chateau Haut Brion

Quite a surprise in a difficult vintage, a strict selcection and the superb terroir of Haut-Brion triumphed over a very challenging year that produced many hard, relatively herbaceous wines. The colour is a suprisingly saturated deep plum/ruby. Some sweet berry fruit intermixed with menthol, graphite,damp earth and a hint of mushroom emerges in this medium -bodied, very elegant Haut-Brion that is still firmly structured but has sweet tannin and suprising length and ripeness. The wine will always represent a sleeper style. Anticipated maturity:2004-2015.

One of the great wines of the vintage, Haut-Brion's 1993 possesses a dark garnet/plum/purple color, an expressive, fragrant, sweet, berry, blackcurrant, mineral, lead pencil, and earthy-scented nose, and medium to full-bodied, concentrated flavours that reveal non of this vintage's hardness or herbaceousness. This layered wine offers sweet tannin, good length, and outstanding purity. Its price is moderate when compared to more recent vintages of Haut Brion. Give it 3-4 years of cellaring and consume it between 2001-2020.

This is a prodigious Haut-Brion. It exhibits a dense ruby/purple colour in addition to a tight, but incredibly promising nose of smoke, earth, minerals, lead pencil, black currants, cherries, and spice. This full-bodied wine unfolds slowly but convincingly on the palate, revealing a rich, multitiered, stunningly pure, symmetrical style with wonderful sweetness, ripe tannin, and a finish that lasts for nearly 45 seconds. It tastes like liquid nobility. There is really no other way of describing it. It is unquestionably the finest Haut-Brion since the fabulous1989 and 1990, and the titanic 2000. However, patience is warranted as it is not as flashy and forwardas those two vintages. Anticipated maturity 2008-2035.

As reported over the last two years, this is a prodigious Haut-Brion. It exhibits a dense ruby/purple color in addition to a tight, but incredibly promising nose of smoke, earth, minerals, lead pencil, black currants, cherries, and spice. This full-bodied wine unfolds slowly, but convincingly on the palate, revealing a rich, multi-tiered, stunningly pure, symmetrical style with wonderful sweetness, ripe tannin, and a finish that lasts for nearly 45 seconds. It tastes like liquid nobility. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2035.

The 1998 continues to emulate the style of recent prodigious Haut-Brions. With all due respect to the glorious 1995, the 1998 appears to be the finest wine produced since Haut-Brion's prodigious 1989 and 1990. It reveals more aromatic and flavor dimensions than it did last year. The dense ruby/purple color is followed by classic, developing aromas of minerals, lead pencil, earth, and black cherries/currants. On the palate, additional dimensions and nuances unfold. Tannic and powerful, but with sweet fruit, ripe tannin, and great length and richness, this profound, firmly-structured Haut-Brion will require 4-6 years of bottle age; it should drink well for three decades.

Jean Delmas is thrilled with what he achieved at Haut-Brion and La Mission-Haut-Brion in 1998. It is one of the great successes of the vintage. Moreover, it is the paradigm for elegance allied to power. The color is an opaque purple. The nose offers up sweet black fruits intermixed with roasted herbs, pain grille, and minerals. There is a sensational, plush texture, yet the wine comes across as medium-bodied, with multiple levels of flavor, as well as gorgeous ripeness and purity. It possesses fine density, but there is no sense of heaviness or imbalance. It is a brilliant classic. Lovers of this estate's distinctive, highly individualized, complex wines should not miss it. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2025.

A deep garnet core with deep brick rim. The nose is just fantastic, just soars from the glass with brilliant delineation and freshness; black olives, blackberry leaf, blueberry and a touch of iodine. At this stage it has slightly more breeding than the La Mission, although that wine has more immediacy. The palate is awesome: full-bodied, more structure than La Mission, nigh on perfect balance and tension. There is a natural quality to this wine, a beguiling sense of harmony that will ensure that this will become the best Haut Brion since the 1989 (on par with the criminally overlooked 1990.) The finish has a gorgeous suppleness to it: notes of blackberry, cherry liqueur, black olives and a touch of oyster shell. Very long in length. Awesome.

subtler and slightly more complex, with a cedar, berry, chocolate and light tobacco bouquet and a caressing palate with sweet, ripe fruit, silky tannins and a long finish. It is muscular but toned and slender compared to La Mission’s more solid, brute strength. 98 points.

An incredibly rich and complex Haut Brion which could potentially equal the legendary 1989. Aromas of crushed berries, tobacco, lead, cinnamon, spice and wet earth follow through to a gorgeously caressing palate with big, velvety tannins and a long, delicious aftertaste. A triumph for the vintage.

Bright crimson. Very sweet and opulent on the nose – broad and round. Truly magnificent bouquet already although the palate is a bit austere. Tannins quite pronounced and dry fruit. Difficult to mark this wine – just smell it for the moment! Neat, well balanced on the finish. Just needs a little time for those tannins to soften…Drink 2011-24

Bit light in colour – mid red. Very correct and zesty and zippy. Lots tucked in there… Great for the long term.

Still incredibly youthful and sporting a lot of fruit, the deep garnet-brick colored 1998 Haut-Brion sashays out of the glass with flamboyant red and black fruits, followed by a train of cassis, blueberry pie and chocolate box notions plus accents of iron ore, dried lavender and underbrush. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is wonderfully rich and decadently seductive in its generosity of fruit and velvety texture, offering seamless freshness and finishing with epic length and compelling minerality. Oh so delicious right now, with careful cellaring it should continue to excite through 2045 and beyond.

Tasted from an ex-château bottle in Bordeaux, I was not surprised to find the 2000 Château Haut-Brion flirting with perfection. The nose is simply breathtaking - quintessential Haut-Brion with ebullient red berry fruit, roasted herbs, gravel, terracotta tiles on a warm summer's day...it is simply wave after wave of intoxicating scents that could bring even the most stoic person to tears of joy. The palate displays heavenly balance, pitch-perfect acidity, perhaps spicier than previous bottles that I have tasted, and what depth and dimension in this outstanding wine. That hint of graphite on the finish is a cheeky nod to Pauillac, as if to thumb its nose at the First Growths, because alongside Château Latour, almost by stealth, the Haut-Brion is one of the greatest Bordeaux in this millennial year. Tasted November 2014. Drink: 2020 - 2060.

Its bigger sister, the 2000 Haut-Brion (a blend of 51% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc) showed incredibly at the tasting, and for me is one of the three or four most prodigious wines of the vintage. A compelling nose of roasted herbs, scorched earth, sweet blueberries, plums, black currants, and a hint of graphite is followed by a deep, layered, sumptuously textured, full-bodied Haut-Brion, but one with extraordinary complexity. This wine seems more evolved and approachable than I had expected it to be at age 10. My window of maturity seven years ago was 2012-2040, but I would change that to 2010-2050.

Haut-Brion can be among the trickiest Bordeaux to taste young, often needing a full decade before the extraordinary complexity that marks this terroir begins to emerge. I was thrilled to see how well both the second wine, Bahans Haut-Brion, and Haut-Brion performed in this tasting, and both scores are slight upgrades.

It will always be tempting to compare the 2000 Haut-Brion with the perfect 2000 La Mission Haut Brion. However, it is not as fat, unctuous, or flamboyant as La Mission, but like a great diplomat, it is a wine of intensity, authority, and measured restraint. A supremely elegant offering, its dense ruby/purple colour, and burgeoning perfume of scorched earch, liquid minerals, plums, black currants, cherries, lead pencil, and subtle spicy oak are followed by a delicate pure and seamless wine. There have been so many recent classics from Haut-Brion, it is absurd to suggest the 2000 is better than the 1998, 1995, or 1990, but it is certainly a prodigous wine of great persistence, length, and complexity. A blend of 51% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, it should prove to be uncommonly long-lived, even by the standards of Haut-Brion. Anticipated maturity 2012-2040.

It will always be tempting to compare the 2000 Haut-Brion with the perfect 2000 La Mission Haut-Brion. However, it is not as fat, unctuous, flamboyant, or voluminous as La Mission. Yet, like a great diplomat, it is a wine of intensity, authority, and measured restraint. A supremely elegant offering, its dense ruby/purple color, and burgeoning perfume of scorched earth, liquid minerals, plums, black currants, cherries, lead pencil, and subtle spicy oak are followed by a delicate yet powerfully flavorful, multi-layered, highly nuanced, and extraordinarily pure and seamless wine. There have been so many recent classics from Haut-Brion, it is premature to suggest the 2000 is better than the 1998, 1995, 1990, or 1989, but it is certainly a prodigious wine of dazzling persistence, length, and complexity. A blend of 51% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 7% Cabernet Franc, it should prove to be uncommonly long-lived, even by the standards of Haut-Brion. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2040.

This wine possesses a saturated ruby/purple color as well as a striking perfume of wet steel, hot rocks, minerals, plums, black currants, and cherries. Elegant yet deep, delicate yet authoritatively flavorful, this subtle, highly nuanced yet stunningly rich offering is a great Haut-Brion. The wine (a blend of 51% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 7% Cabernet Franc) is a sensational Haut-Brion that should be uncommonly long-lived, even by the standards of this noble chateau. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2040.

The 2000 Haut-Brion, a blend of 51% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 7% Cabernet Franc, possesses tremendous richness, and a highly-nuanced, complex personality with abundant quantities of black fruits, minerals, vanillin, and subtle earth. It is delicate yet thick, juicy and succulent. However, the 2000 seems to possess an obvious overlay of tannin as well as a degree of precision and freshness, largely attributed to slightly high acidity. A superlative effort. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2035.

Dark crimson with lightening rim. Not especially expressive on the nose at first although some gentle aromatics. Blurry, smudgy impression. The tannins have really come up and the fruit has receded to mingle with all those phenolics. A certain lightness of touch. After an hour the tannins faded a little and the velvety texture became more apparent. Drink 2010-2025. Date tasted 16th Oct 07.

Aromas of minerals, forest floor, fresh mushrooms, plums, and currants are present in the moderately fragrant bouquet. Angular, with hard tannin, medium body, and sweet plums as well as currants, this 2002 is harder and tougher-textured than from barrel. Like many 2002s, it is reserved and angular at present. It remains to be seen whether it will flesh out and reveal more charm and succulence. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2020.

Whether it’s a coincidence, or because in relatively cool years the first-growth terroirs are brilliant, Haut-Brion has turned out a beautifully classic, medium-bodied, precise and focused 2002 boasting a deep ruby/purple color as well as strikingly elegant aromatics (crushed stones, plums, black cherries, currants, figs, and earth). The wine possesses impressively measured power and elegance offered in a medium-bodied, nicely-structured, exceptionally pure format. It is unusual for Haut-Brion to dominate La Mission Haut-Brion at such a young age, but it certainly does in the 2002 vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2024

Tasted blind at Farr's 2002 Bordeaux tasting. Very good intensity on the nose with blackberry, black olive, gravel and hot bricks/cedar. Great definition. The full-bodied palate is very dense and sturdy with gripping tannins. Very precise, obviously a lot of craftsmanship, but not as complex as some of the other First Growth '02s with autumn leaves fluttering down upon the elegant finish. A lovely wine to drink rather than intellectualize over. Tasted October 2009.

Drink 2011-19 Round and heady and easy, real depth and interest. Juicy. Very long.

Starting to get strong La Mission notes on the nose already. The bouquet is developing quite rapidly and again no great density on the palate though good balance and a very fresh, brisk wine for relatively early drinking (because it is not too intense). Nothing out of place but a three-quarter helping of everything,Drink 2010-20