Winemaker Notes
Blend: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has an attractive, expressive nose of cassis, graphite, blue and red fruit and a subtle floral lift. Medium- to full-bodied with impressive depth and energy, it shows chalky, vibrant tannins that bring focus and definition. Expansive yet controlled, with great tension and length. A blend of 86% cabernet sauvignon and 14% merlot, aged in new French oak barrels, concrete and amphorae. Already pleasant, but will evolve beautifully with time.
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Vinous
The 2023 Haut-Bages Liberal is fabulous. Deep, layered and exquisitely beautiful, the 2023 bristles with tension. Dark red cherry, plum, spice, leather, menthol and licorice grace a wine of depth, richness and sensuality. It's a terrific effort from proprietor Claire Villars-Lurton. -Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 94-96 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Haut-Bages-Libéral is very promising, bursting with aromas of dark berries, cassis, pencil shavings and violets, followed by a medium to full-bodied, fleshy and suave palate with an enveloping core of fruit, lively acids typical of this limestone terroir, and sweet, powdery tannins. It's a blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot with a low pH of 3.48.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Wine Enthusiast
The pronounced yet velvety tannins contrast well with the ripe black fruits to produce a wine with sumptuous potential. Fine depth and a black-pepper aroma finish and start a wine for aging.
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Decanter
Great aromatics, really quite scented on the nose. Highly fragrant with purple flowers, damsons and rich black and red fruit. Great acidity, more juicy and fun than some Pauillacs with lots of energy and brightness. Really feel the vivacity to this wine, straight and clean, precise, not so much weight, the straight Cabernets are doing all the talking with some wet stone minerality on the back. Friendly, lovely and precise. Approachable, this doesn’t have the seriousness of some but this is well made with lots of freshness, mint, cedar and tobacco and liquorice on the long finish. 3.45pH.
Barrel Sample: 93 -
Jeb Dunnuck
A blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot aged 16 months in 40% new French oak, 40% one-year-old barrels, and 20% amphora, the 2023 Château Haut-Bages Libéral sports a deeper ruby/purple hue as well as a great nose of bright berries, sappy tobacco, liquid violets, and damp earth. Coming from two separate terroirs in Pauillac, it's medium-bodied and has a pure, graceful, layered mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and nicely integrated acidity. This is a beautifully layered, elegant 2023 that shows the style of the vintage as well as the château.
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.
The leader on the Left Bank in number of first growth classified producers within its boundaries, Pauillac has more than any of the other appellations, at three of the five. Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild border St. Estephe on its northern end and Chateau Latour is at Pauillac’s southern end, bordering St. Julien.
While the first growths are certainly some of the better producers of the Left Bank, today they often compete with some of the “lower ranked” producers (second, third, fourth, fifth growth) in quality and value. The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification that goes back to 1855. The finest chateaux in that year were judged on the basis of reputation and trading price; changes in rank since then have been miniscule at best. Today producers such as Chateau Pontet-Canet, Chateau Grand Puy-Lacoste, Chateau Lynch-Bages, among others (all fifth growth) offer some of the most outstanding wines in all of Bordeaux.
Defining characteristics of fine wines from Pauillac (i.e. Cabernet-based Bordeaux Blends) include inky and juicy blackcurrant, cedar or cigar box and plush or chalky tannins.
Layers of gravel in the Pauillac region are key to its wines’ character and quality. The layers offer excellent drainage in the relatively flat topography of the region allowing water to run off into “jalles” or streams, which subsequently flow off into the Gironde.