2015 CHÂTEAU HAUT BRION Blanc Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan, Lea & Sandeman

CHÂTEAU HAUT BRION BLANC

2018 Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan

Grapes Sauv Blanc, Sémillon
Colour White
Origin France, Bordeaux
Village Pessac-Léognan
Classification Cru Classé

81% Sauvignon Blanc, 19% Semillon. Vanilla oak and defined ripe pineapple. There is good weight on the palate - no cloying richness. Deep and round the heat of the vintage is noticeable. A serious Haut Brion with depth and density. It carries the trademark texture of 2018. Drinking range: 2021 - 2029 L&S (Apr 2019)


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Opulent and perfumed for this great white in 2018, with lemon curd, cooked apple, lilac, lime flower, stone, rock and hints of sandalwood. It’s full-bodied, yet tight and compressed with layers of fruit that are integrated and focused. Needs time to open and show its true greatness but stunning. Drinking range: 2025 - Rating: 99 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Feb 2021)

A stunner from first sip, as lemon shortbread and verbena notes lead off followed by a torrent of white peach, yellow apple, lime pith, honeysuckle and acacia notes. Racy, almost piercing minerality knifes through the middle, adding a mouthwatering element, while the shortbread and verbena take a curtain on the finish, creating a beautiful balance of contrasts. Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. Drinking range: 2022 - 2038 Rating: 98 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Jan 2021)

More Sauvignon-dominated (there's 19.4% Sémillon), the 2018 Haut-Brion Blanc is up with the crème de la crème of the vintage and has both richness and freshness. Tart pineapple, citrus blossom, hints of orange blossom, and crushed rock-like characteristics all emerge from this medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, elegant white that has plenty of oomph on the mid-palate, bright acidity, and a great, great finish. It’s another thrilling wine from this estate as well as one of the top whites in the vintage. Rating: 94-96 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (May 2019)

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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