Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Showing plenty of black fruit, savory herbs, and complimentary oak, the 2014 Château Haut-Bergey a good look at how a top-class Pessac-Léognan should be. This wine is quite concentrated, yet it is well-balanced and refined. (Tasted: October 11, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
Ripe berry fruits push through the firm structure to create a juicy, potentially rich wine. It has an immediately attractive freshness, but tannins and dark wood flavors promise aging.
Barrel Sample: 89-91 -
Wine Spectator
A solid, grippy-edged style, with a core of steeped plum and blackberry fruit laced with tar and roasted apple wood notes. Picks up needed energy on the finish. A bit brooding in feel, but there's ample depth of fruit and grip to wait this out.
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James Suckling
A solid core of fruit to this wine with blueberry, dark chocolate and mineral character. Full body with firm tannins and a fresh finish.
Barrel Sample: 89-90
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.