Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The firm tannins in this wine are dense and concentrated, ripe rather than dry. The fruit and juicy acidity give the wine richness and crispness at the same time. It has a great future. Drink from 2025.
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Decanter
Attractive dark red fruits, subtle liquorice and gently insisting tannins. One that will deliver pleasure earlier than some. There’s a silky approachability, but it should also develop well.
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James Suckling
The dark berry and iodine aromas are fascinating with bark and black tea undertones. Medium to full body, juicy fruit and a savory finish. Hints of tobacco and chocolate. A long time favorite. Drink in 2020.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Château Carbonnieux is made from 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot that spent 18 months in 30% new barrels. Classic notes of black cherries, ground herbs, licorice, and hints of earth all emerge from this medium-bodied, concentrated, structured Pessac that has ripe tannin and a good finish. It's backward and tight, and needs 4-5 years of bottle age but should last for two decades.
Rating: 92+ -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Carbonnieux is very earthy with fallen leaves, mossy bark and damp soil notions with a core of red currants and black raspberries plus a waft of wild thyme. The medium-bodied palate is firm, grainy and fresh with delicate red fruits and an earthy finish.
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Wine Spectator
Offers cassis, raspberry and cherry paste flavors, showing flashes of mulling spice, sweet tobacco and warm earth. Suave and accessible. Best from 2019 through 2027.
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.