CHÂTEAU LES CARMES HAUT BRION
2015 Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan
| Grapes | Cab Franc, Merlot, Cab Sauv |
| Colour | Red |
| Origin | France, Bordeaux |
| Village | Pessac-Léognan |
| Classification | Cru Classé |
| ABV | 14% |
Dense and broad, with warm dark plum, fig and blackberry confiture flavors rolling over one another, backed by a broad swath of tar and roasted apple wood. This is packed with serious grip, featuring bramble, licorice snap and intense sweet tobacco notes on the back end, all of which combine with the fruit for a powerfully rendered finish. Distinct and impressive. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 95 L&S (Jan 2018)
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Or, check the RELATED PRODUCTS below for different vintages or wines of a similar style.
The first wine made in the extraordinary and rather beautiful new Philippe Starck-designed chai, which resembles a cross between a submarine and a dreadnought battleship. We'd love to share a photo but it has been firmly embargoed until the unveiling date of the 28th of June. 45% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot. Vinified using a technique learned by winemaker Guillaume Pouthier from Chapoutier in the Rhone, where he previously worked, with layers of destemmed and whole bunch fruit in the vats. They used balloons inflated in the top of the vats to submerge the cap and allow it to infuse very gently, avoiding remontages. Very dark colour, with a surprisingly garnet edge. Rich and plush with patisserie fruit - ripe blueberry pie. Big volume and smooth delivery, still with real expression and this velouté dark fruit. 'Crémeux et sensuelle' says Guillaume. Quite an extreme wine, but but it remains within bounds: nicely done. Rating: 92-94 L&S (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Les Carmes Haut-Brion is the first vintage vinified with 100% infusion, including 55% whole bunches. This has a much more intense bouquet compared to the 2014: copious blackberries, blueberry and crushed violet scents, hints of blood orange and a light cassis touch with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine density and precision, good grip, edgy tannins with clearly more mineralité percolating through the finish. Excellent. Tasted at the Les Carmes Haut-Brion vertical at the château. Drinking range: 2023 - 2050 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Oct 2022)
The succulent depth and width to this wine is clear as soon as your nose hovers over the glass. Concentrated tannins hum underneath a more sculpted aerian side of fragrant peonies and raspberry leaf that take off through the palate. This was a warm vintage and we are on a warm site here, and yet you feel a freshness, with crushed mint leaf and juicy cranberry that belies the vintage and speaks to deft winemaking. This is the point at which Carmes begins to fully take on its own personaity that is not necessarily reflective of the appellation as a whole. 3.7ph, 40% new oak. Drinking range: 2024 - 2044 Rating: 95 Jane Anson, Decanter (Feb 2022)
Château Les Carmes Haut Brion
The core of this property is a five hectare vineyard, the only one with an address in Bordeaux itself, Carmes Haut Brion (although neighbouring Haut Brion and co. in Pessac). The little vineyard of Carmes HB, with a dominance of Cabernet Franc - very rare in the area - is planted at a high density of ten thousand vines per hectare. It was once part of Haut Brion, but was given by its owner to an order of nuns, the 'Carmes Blanc', hence the name.
When it was bought by property developer Patrice Pichet in 2010, the vat room consisted of three huge vats, one for each grape variety. Since then the vineyard has been completely restructured, and a new winery has been built.
Pichet has also bought one half of a property called Le Thil, and renamed it the 'Clos des Carmes'. As such it is not a second wine, but an entirely different property. The other half was bought by Smith Haut Lafitte.
M Pichet has also built a rather beautiful new chai, designed by Philippe Starck and the architect Luc Arsène-Henry, which resembles a cross between a submarine and a dreadnought battleship. We'd love to share a photo but it has been firmly embargoed until the unveiling date of the 28th of June 2016.
the winemaker/general manager is Guillaume Pouthier, who previously worked at Chapoutier in the Rhone, and he has brought with him the technique of using up to half whole bunch fermentation, creating layers the destemmed and whole bunch fruit in the vats. One to watch.
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RELATED PRODUCTS
2019 LE C DES CARMES HAUT BRION Pessac-Léognan
Bordeaux France 13% Red
Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon.
A blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot, the 2019 Le C des Carmes Haut-Brion was made with 28% whole-bunch fermentation and has a pH of 3.7. It rolls effortlessly out of the glass with open sce...(read more)
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent
2009 CHÂTEAU HAUT BAILLY Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan
Bordeaux France 13.5% Red
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Dark crimson to black. Good nose of fresh dark fruit with hints of smoke and spice. Entry is crisp and suave, an immediate (and continued) sense of real vineyard balance. Good concentration and density through the mid-pa...(read more)
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