Winemaker Notes
Blend: 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Blackcurrant, stewed-blackberry, thyme, bark and licorice aromas. It’s full-bodied with firm, fine tannins and a flavorful finish. It really grows on the palate. Layered. Try from 2024.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek, pure and refined, with cassis, damson plum and cherry reduction flavors laced with subtle tar, graphite and mesquite notes. Flashes of anise and red tea on the fine-grained finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot.
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Decanter
Just 19hl/ha were picked after the hail and mildew, but Château Brown has done a great job with what it had. There's a slight bit of heat on the attack but the concentrated fruit and silky texture eats it up, with dark chocolate and liquorice notes coming in strong through the mid-palate. An exuberant, good quality wine with intensity and concentration, and just hugely seductive. 3.74pH. 75% new oak.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Recognized for its superior reds as well as whites, Pessac-Léognan on the Left Bank claims classified growths for both—making it quite unique in comparison to its neighboring Médoc properties.
Pessac’s Chateau Haut-Brion, the only first growth located outside of the Médoc, is said to have been the first to conceptualize fine red wine in Bordeaux back in the late 1600s. The estate, along with its high-esteemed neighbors, La Mission Haut-Brion, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pique-Caillou and Chateau Pape-Clément are today all but enveloped by the city of Bordeaux. The rest of the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan are in clearings of heavily forested area or abutting dense suburbs.
Arid sand and gravel on top of clay and limestone make the area unique and conducive to growing Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc as well as the grapes in the usual Left Bank red recipe: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and miniscule percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.
The best reds will show great force and finesse with inky blue and black fruit, mushroom, forest, tobacco, iodine and a smooth and intriguing texture.
Its best whites show complexity, longevity and no lack of exotic twists on citrus, tropical and stone fruit with pronounced floral and spice characteristics.