Winemaker Notes
It is a very colourful wine. The nose is complex, rich and precise with aromas of violet, currants and spices. On the palate, the tannins are dense but tasty. This wine has a remarkable amplitude. It is powerful and harmonious.
Blend: 49% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Fine aromas of herbs and currant leaves lend freshness to this wine from a hot, sunny vintage. Surprisingly scented and complex on the nose, showing spiced cherries, plums and a touch of cedar. Firm and juicy on the palate, with a medium to full body and a very long, tight-grained finish without chewiness. Nicely fluid in the middle, but refined.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Black cherries, smoked earth, leather, and graphite all emerge from the 2022 Château Olivier, a concentrated, rich, medium to full-bodied 2022 that has building tannins, solid mid-palate depth and richness, and a great finish. Give it a few years for the tannins to round into form, and this beauty will cruise
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Wine Spectator
Sanguine and iron notes show themselves early on here, while the core of warmed cassis and steeped red cherry fruit move along steadily. Polished in feel, with fine-grained alder and cedar notes asserted themselves on the suave finish. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.
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Decanter
Chewy and ripe, tannins are excellently presented, mouth coating and filling, chewy also, but they have a gorgeous cool blue fruit and stony element that is so moreish. Not so overly juicy and vibrant but really well controlled. Feels purposeful and excellently presented with bounce, flesh, texture, fruit and life. Super charming in a really quiet way. Tannins just linger on the finish giving some dryness but this should resolve.
Barrel Sample: 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.