Winemaker Notes
Blend: 48.3% Merlot, 39.4% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12.3% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 La Chapelle De La Mission Haut-Brion showed beautifully, with a ripe, round, supple, sexy style. Black raspberries, liquid violets, spicy wood, and tobacco are just some of the nuances in this beauty, and it has a classic La Mission supple, round, opulent style that has so much to love.
Barrel Sample: 91-94 -
James Suckling
The blackberry, blueberry and violet aromas are impressive. It’s medium-bodied, salty and energetic with firm tannins. A vivid wine. 48.3% merlot, 39.4% cabernet sauvignon and 12.3% cabernet franc.
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Decanter
Milk chocolate, blackcurrant and bramble fruit on the nose, gorgeous scents. Ripe and plummy, juicy and so bright, lovely clarity but such precision, really well defined, tension is there and there are edges to the tannins but there is also such good movement. Not plump at all, great clarity with freshness and lift. Lovely sculpting, not muscular but there’s weight and depth here. And I love the fleshy tannins just giving a bit of crushed velvet texture to the palate. Bright, balanced, vibrant, and long too. Soft and lush. 3.8pH.
Barrel Sample: 93 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Opening with a gourmand and inviting bouquet of dark berries, cassis, mulberries and spices, the 2023 La Chapelle de la Mission Haut-Brion offers a juicy, round and supple palate framed by velvety tannins and lively acidity. Approachable yet well structured, it concludes with a long, fresh finish. This is a convincing success in this vintage.
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Vinous
The 2023 La Chapelle de La Mission Haut-Brion is a potent yet accessible second wine. Soft contours add to its considerable appeal. Crushed flowers, spice and sweet pipe tobacco lift a core of red-toned fruit in this racy, sensual Chapelle. Attractive floral and cinnamon notes linger. The 2023 is all charm—I expect it will drink well with minimal cellaring. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 90-92
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.