2014 CHÂTEAU HAUT BRION 1er Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan, Lea & Sandeman

CHÂTEAU HAUT BRION

2014 1er Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan

Colour Red
Origin France, Bordeaux
Village Pessac-Léognan
Classification 1er Cru Classé
ABV 14%

50% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon - this has a real presence and sense of poised grandeur. There is a lovely frame to the blueberry and raspberry fruit - some floral character of violets and roses too - so complex. A lovely mineral crunch adds another dimension, this is measured, polished and beautifully concentrated. Rating: 94 L&S (Apr 2015)


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The 2014 Haut-Brion is moving into its drinking plateau on the nose, which is now entirely open. Tertiary red fruit mixes with fennel, iron filings and a touch of Moroccan spice. Very fine delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins. It's a little sweeter and, as I commented before, a little medicinal in style, with hints of aniseed developing towards the finish. This is a mellow Haut-Brion, and it is very well crafted, but is there a gap between this and other high-performing Pessac-Léognan wines? Not in this vintage. Tasted at Bordeaux Index's 10-Year-On tasting. Drinking range: 2024 - 2050 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2024)

Haut-Brion is more concentrated and intense than Mission Haut-Brion, more bedded down even at 10 years old, and somehow delivers an extra punch. Absolutely a materclass in controlled exuberance, this has concentrated cigar box, graphite and cocoa bean, touches of mandarin peel, bitter espresso and fennel, well-controlled tannic frame but so well delivered, it's hard to resist. Jean-Philippe Delmas estate director, Jean-Philippe Masclef technical director. Drinking range: 2025 - 2048 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, Decanter (Feb 2024)

The 2014 Haut-Brion has a generous, quite rich bouquet, a little leathery with just a suggestion of menthol that I have remarked upon in previous bottles. It is attractive but quite open and forward for such a young wine. The palate is medium-bodied with a menthol-tinged entry that sets you up for a very medicinal wine. It is nicely balanced with crisp acidity and quite a savoury, herbal finish that does not quite reflect the vintage. This showed better a few months ago. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2025 - 2060 Rating: 93+ Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2018)

Château Haut Brion

1855 classification - Premier Grand Cru Classé Château Haut Brion is famously the only estate in Graves to have featured in the 1855 classification reflecting a long established reputation, even if, at the time, the crown was beginning to slip. During the 16th Century, Haut-Brion was briefly owned by Jean de Ségur of the Ségur family who at various times owned both Lafite and Latour. Jean de Pontac inherited Haut Brion as a wedding dowry in 1525 and, apart from a brief period during the French Revolution, his descendents owned the estate until 1801. The Pontacs were an interesting lot, including in their number a very pious Bishop, a politician, and François-Auguste Pontac who started a London inn called l'Enseigne de Pontac where Samuel Pepys enjoyed "a sort of French wine called Ho Bryan", finding it "hath a good and most particular taste". Jonathon Swift, however, thought the wine "dear at seven shillings a flagon" - 35p a bottle, if only! Haut Brion was the first Bordeaux wine known to have been imported into the USA when Thomas Jefferson had six cases shipped home to Virginia. Eventually, in the earlier years of the 19th Century, Haut Brion found its way into the hands of the Larrieu family. Preceding reputation was enough to get Haut Brion classified as a Premier Grand Cru Classé in 1855, and a string of copy cat estates appended "Haut Brion" to their names (a source of some litigation in the 1920's) but in reality the 19th and early 20th Centuries were not great times for the wines of Haut Brion. When the bank seized the assets of Milleret Larrieu after WWI, the estate fell into the hands of the Société des Glacières under who's unenlightened guidance much of the gardens were sold off the make way for expanding city of Bordeaux. They then offered Château Haut Brion to the City of Bordeaux, who turned it down, allowing American financier Clarence Dillon to realise his dream of owning a Bordeaux château, buying the estate in 1935. His descendents own Haut Brion to this day. The gravel soils of Haut Brion are planted with 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc for reds, and a more or less 50/50 split of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon for the whites. There are around 45ha under vine. Haut Brion were one of the first estates to ferment in stainless steel. After fermentation, red wines spend up to two years in oak, previoulsy 100% new for the grand vin but, now, more like 35%. The second wine of the estate was known for many years as Bahans Haut Brion, but was renamed recently as Le Clarence de Haut Brion in honour of Clarence Dillon.

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