LE CLARENCE DE HAUT BRION
2023 Pessac-Léognan Château Haut Brion
Grapes | Cab Sauv, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cab Franc |
Colour | Red |
Origin | France, Bordeaux |
Village | Pessac-Léognan |
ABV | 14.2% |
55.5 Merlot, 40.9 Cabernet Sauvignon, 3.6 Cabernet Franc: 22.5% new oak: 14.2% alc Of course, Le Clarence ought to be at least a decent second wine in a vintage in which its Grand Vin stepped up to the top step of the podium. I had no idea it would gain a gold medal score in my notes within seconds of it hitting my system, and this means it stands shoulder-to-shoulder with a very different group of wines in 2023! Firm, buttressed, dark and swirling, the tannins don’t hold back and then invade the palate early, warning the taster that this is not a ‘second wine’ situation. It is a vintage for Le Clarence to stride forward, break rank, and make some noise. There is unexpected intensity and spice here, making this a daring, wayward wine with prodigious length. The perfume sings throughout the experience. It does not disconnect politely from the palate, letting the palate take over – it takes command of everything. Remember, hot vintages overtake terroir, but more controlled vintages allow the terroir to sing, and this property is unique in this and any solar system! I was left not with an image of a planet in my head but another spherical object - a perfectly ripe griotte sitting atop a tee of tannins awaiting a thwack from a mighty golfer. Yes, Le Clarence is that impactful. Rating: 18.5 Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (May 2024)
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The 2023 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion is a heady wine. Here, the tannins are especially polished, almost uncharacteristically so, even through they are very much present. Black cherry, plum, chocolate, spice, new leather and gravel build effortlessly in the glass. Bright acids punctuate the finish. The 2023 is a showy Clarence with tons of character. Drinking range: 2026 - 2045 Rating: 91-93 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (May 2024)
Like La Chapelle de La Mission Haut-Brion, this presents a nose of powdered chalk, crushed with rose petals, peony and pepper. This has a little more delineation and appeal than La Chapelle, with directly drawn fruit, broad and correct, with a little sense of sinew and structure to it. Plenty of firm phenolic grip here, showing though at the end. Lots of structure, but perhaps not quite enough direction here; all the same this is a very nice second wine, although it will need some time to absorb that grip. The alcohol here is 14.2%. Rating: 90-92 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2024)
The 2023 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion is a heady wine. Here, the tannins are especially polished, almost uncharacteristically so, even through they are very much present. Black cherry, plum, chocolate, spice, new leather and gravel build effortlessly in the glass. Bright acids punctuate the finish. The 2023 is a showy Clarence with tons of character. Drinking range: 2026 - 2045 Rating: 91-93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2024)
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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