Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Rich, wonderfully concentrated wine, with ripe apricots, green plums, touches of toast riding over a structure that is just beginning a long aging process. Give this wine 10 years. This is the last vintage under this name. From 2009, the wine has been rebaptized Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The last vintage of Laville Haut-Brion (its name was changed to La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc in 2009) is a blend of 79% Semillon and 21% Sauvignon Blanc revealing lovely lemon blossom, orange marmalade, candle wax, honeysuckle and hints of smoky oak. Full-bodied and capable of lasting 20-25 years, it is a sensational dry white.
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James Suckling
A solid white, with apple pie, cream and lemon sorbert. Full and dense, with a racy finish. Tangy. Very tight still. Give it four to five years to open.
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Wine Spectator
Very pure and fresh, with lots of mouthwatering quinine and kiwifruit framing the core of yellow apple, heather, blanched almond and green plum. Very long. Needs a little time in the cellar to blossom. This will be the last vintage for this label; it changes to Château La Mission Haut-Brion starting in the 2009 vintage.
Sometimes light and crisp, other times rich and creamy, Bordeaux White Blends typically consist of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Often, a small amount of Muscadelle or Sauvignon Gris is included for added intrigue. Popularized in Bordeaux, the blend is often mimicked throughout the New World. Somm Secret—Sauternes and Barsac are usually reserved for dessert, but they can be served before, during or after a meal. Try these sweet wines as an aperitif with jamón ibérico, oysters with a spicy mignonette or during dinner alongside hearty Alsatian sausage.
Famous for both its red and white wines, Graves is a large region, extending 30 miles southeast of the city of Bordeaux, along the left bank of the Garonne River. Red wine producing vineyards cover well over three times as much area as the whites. In the late 1980s, the French created the separate appellation of Pessac-Léognan within the northern confines of Graves. It includes all of its most famous properties, and the southern suburbs of the city Bordeaux itself. In French "graves" is a term used to indicate gravelly soils.