CHÂTEAU LES CARMES HAUT BRION
2018 Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan
| Grapes | Merlot, Cab Franc, Cab Sauv |
| Colour | Red |
| Origin | France, Bordeaux |
| Village | Pessac-Léognan |
| Classification | Cru Classé |
| ABV | 13.5% |
37% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot. 75% new oak. 18 to 24 months in barrel. Some amphora used too. This is lovely - the nose is oaky and inviting. Silky smooth juice is structured by polished tannins. Concentrated but not loud or weighty. The long autumn allowed the Carmes team to 'pick with conviction'. This is felt in the wine - the balance is superb. Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 L&S (Apr 2019)
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The 2018 Les Carmes Haut-Brion was aged in 75% new oak with a touch more matured in foudres. It includes 55% whole bunches. This has a slight confit-like aroma on the nose, plush cranberry and wild strawberry intermingling with cassis and violet; aromatically, this is the more precocious recent vintage. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red fruit, fine tannins, clean and pure with excellent acidity keeping everything on an even keel towards the finish. The 2018 has a caressing texture and is very persistent. I might quibble and say that I just find the nose a little trop, but the palate is superb. Tasted at the Les Carmes Haut-Brion vertical at the château. Drinking range: 2026 - 2055 Rating: 94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Oct 2022)
This powerful, full of complex layers of raspberry, blackberry, smoked earth, rosemary and turmeric spice, but running underneath it all is clear salinity and grip. The personality and poise of this wine overtakes the vintage, not an easy thing to do in a year that is as powerful as 2018 and on a warm site such as Carmes Haut-Brion. Touches of saffron and salt-licked as it opens, sage, freshly grilled dried herbs and gourmet espresso and brioche. Enjoyable. 3.62pH, and harvest at almost 1% ABV higher than you find in the final bottle. Ageing takes place in a mix of 25% new oak, 5% oak casks, and 10% amphoras, with 55% stems during fermentation, and natural yeasts. Drinking range: 2025 - 2042 Rating: 98 Jane Anson, Decanter (Feb 2022)
The 2018 Les Carmes Haut-Brion was always going to be a wine that I would leave for 12–24 hours to monitor its evolution. It has a splendid bouquet of a mixture of blackberry, freshly rolled tobacco, autumn leaves and touches of brine. It is classic in style and showcases the Cabernet Franc element supremely well. The palate is in many ways uncompromising. The Cabernet is in full effect: herbaceous, with bell pepper and bitter cherry, quite tannic, and for the vintage, one of the most austere wines you will find in Bordeaux, let alone Pessac-Léognan. I personally find it to my taste, but it is not a wine for hedonists seeking bundles of juicy fruit. An intellectual Les Carmes for sure, one that leaves you pondering in which direction it will age. Drinking range: 2024 - 2050 Rating: 94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2021)
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
Merlot, Cabernet Franc, 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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