CHÂTEAU LES CARMES HAUT BRION
2016 Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan
| Grapes | Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, Merlot |
| Colour | Red |
| Origin | France, Bordeaux |
| Village | Pessac-Léognan |
| Classification | Cru Classé |
| ABV | 14% |
51% Merlot, 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Petit Verdot. Deep colour, nose quite restrained, floral and ripe berries, with a sweetness to the entry and mid-palate. Quite a big wine, with lots of density too. Ample feel with firm tannins half hidden by the fat. It's all a question of balance, and this is beautifully balanced, since despite the ripe weight, there is a 'real' freshness about it, with good tension and fresh acidity. Guillaume Pouthier tells us about his use of an inflatable ring (looks like a doughnut - as in towing behind speedboats - made from food-grade plastic) to put in the top of the cuve to keep the cap (of skins etc) submerged - infusion rather than extraction - 'using it means you can't take more than nature wants to give', he says. Drinking range: 2025 - 2050 Rating: 93-95 L&S (Apr 2017)
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The 2016 Les Carmes Haut-Brion contains 65% whole bunches and is the first to be partially aged in foudres and amphora. This has a very clean, precise and intense bouquet with blackberry, wild hedgerow, crushed stone and iris petal scents. Extra focused. The palate is medium-bodied with chiselled tannins, highly energetic and tensile with a precise finish that lingers long in the mouth. Sapid and engaging, this is a brilliant Les Carmes Haut-Brion. Tasted at the Les Carmes Haut-Brion vertical at the château. Drinking range: 2024 - 2055 Rating: 96 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Oct 2022)
Subdued power with cassis and blackberry fruits, liqourice root, cocoa beans and a wall of tannins that retains an air of controlled restraint at 6 years old. Maintains momentum and energy through the palate,with a saline lick of crushed rocks on the finish. This is sculpted, moreish, delicious. As with the 2015, a vintage again that Carmes has its own personality, and doesn't follow the pack. New winery, with softer infusion-method for the extraction of flavours and tannins, and 60% stems. Ageing takes place in a mix of 25% new oak, 5% oak casks, and 10% amphoras. Drinking range: 2025 - 2044 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, Decanter (Feb 2022)
Readers looking for the next superstar in Bordeaux need to jump on the bandwagon of Les Carmes Haut-Brion, who have produced one of the wines of the vintage in 2016. The 2016 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion checks in as a blend of 41% Cabernet Franc, 39% Merlot, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon that hit 13.8% natural alcohol and spent 22 months in 65% new French oak. Its deep purple color is followed by a complex bouquet of high-class smoke tobacco, decaying flowers, charcoal, gravelly minerality and loads of sweet black and blue fruit. Possessing full-bodied richness, flawless integration of its acidity, fruit, and ultra-fine tannins, and a blockbuster finish, this is another 2016 that possess both power and elegance. Do your best to hide bottles for 5-7 years and it will keep for 3-4 decades. Don’t miss it. Tasted twice. Drinking range: 2024 - 2064 Rating: 99 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (Feb 2019)
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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2019 LE C DES CARMES HAUT BRION Pessac-Léognan
Bordeaux France 13% Red
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot.
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
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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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