Winemaker Notes
The Château Haut-Brion displays a dark, radiant red color, and even before swirling, the nose reveals fresh and spicy notes, which further confirm the grapes’ good ripeness. The palate is tightly knit and precise, immediately assertive with remarkable presence, developing gracefully without force, complemented by well-rounded, refined, and juicy tannins, and concluding with excellent length. The interplay of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon creates an incredibly accurate and harmonious composition.
Blend: 42.8% Merlot Noir, 39.7% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17.5% Cabernet Franc.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Unquestionably one of the top wines in this impressive vintage, the 2020 Château Haut-Brion checks in as 42.8% Merlot, 39.7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the balance Cabernet Franc, all of which will spend 15-18 months in 77% new French oak. Its deep purple color is followed by a thrilling nose of mineral-laced blackcurrants, black raspberries, toast, spice, scorched earth, and graphite. Possessing an almost Lafite-like elegance on the palate, it nevertheless has huge dry extract, full-bodied richness, flawless balance, and beautiful tannins. Per the spec sheet, the alcohol is an estimated 15% with a pH of 3.78, so it’s no shrinking violet, yet it never shows a hint of headiness or being over the top. I finished my note with “Where can I buy some?” I suspect this wine will require a solid decade to hit the early stages of maturity and will be a 30-, 40-, or possibly a 50-year wine.
Barrel Sample: 98-100 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Haut-Brion is more aromatically demonstrative than La Mission Haut-Brion, bursting with aromas of blackberries and raspberries mingled with licorice, cigar wrapper, pencil shavings and nicely integrated new oak. Full-bodied, ample and fleshy, it's rich and layered, with an enveloping core of fruit that's girdled by plenty of sweet, powdery tannin. Despite checking in at a similarly lofty alcoholic degree to the 2019, its more granular tannic profile tempers the vintage's sweetness of fruit and lends the wine a more classically proportioned, and more classically structured, profile. Best After 2030
-
James Suckling
Aromas of blackberry, licorice, tile, stone and mocha. Tobacco and cigar, too. They follow through to a full body with ultra-fine tannins that go on and on. Sophisticated ripe fruit in the center palate with a brightness. Tangerines in the finish. Very supple and savory at the end, in a classy way. Reminds me of the 1998. Already so attractive, but it will reward you much more after 2028.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Tightly textured, this is a wine whose future is assured. With intense white fruits, spice and touches of toast from the wood aging, the wine's concentration and taut character combine richness and structure.
Barrel Sample : 96-98
-
Decanter
Concentrated, powerful and precise; this takes a grip and holds on, layers of licorice, grilled coffee bean, chocolate, blackcurrant pastille, cassis bud and a more steely wet stone edge that gives a much needed balance to the richness of the overall feel of this wine. Gunsmoke curls out of the glass after half an hour - this is going to need serious ageing, impressive and powerful stuff.
Barrel Sample: 96
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.