- Colour Red
- Producer Château les Carmes Haut-Brion
- Region Pessac-Léognan
- Drinking 2025 - 2040
- Case size 12x75cl
- Available Now
2015 - Ch Les Carmes Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan - 12x75cl
- Colour Red
- Producer Château les Carmes Haut-Brion
- Region Pessac-Léognan
- Drinking 2025 - 2040
- Case size 12x75cl
- Available Now
Select pricing type
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Neal Martin, July 2019, Score: 94
The 2015 Les Carmes Haut-Brion has a clean and fresh bouquet with blackberry, terracotta tiles, undergrowth and tobacco scents, all very detailed and demonstrating more complexity than its peers. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, taut and linear, lace-like in texture with a fine bead of acidity toward the finish. Guillaume Pouthier made a fantastic Pessac-Léognan that may warrant a higher score in the future. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.
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Neal Martin, April 2016, Score: 92-94
The 2015 Les Carmes Haut Brion is a blend of 30% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon that was cropped at 25 hl/ha between 24 September and 11 October. This vintage includes around 45% whole cluster fruit and it went through a four-week ferment with just one pump-over and one pigeage, using a bladder inside the tank to submerge the cap (like an infusion tea). It is aged 10% in clay amphora and 90% in oak barrels, which includes 20% in Stockinger barrels, around 60% new wood. The alcohol degree is 14% and a pH of 3.7. "This vintage is very sensual because of the softness of tannin. I think it is very typical of Pessac," ex-Chapoutier winemaker Guillaume Pouthier told me. The nascent wine is inky purple in color. The nose is very closed and demands a lot of coaxing from the glass, reluctantly giving up black cherries, cassis and iodine scents. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin, extremely pure, hints of black olive and Japanese nori infusing the black fruit. It has a very fine structure with good grip on the finish. The Cabernet Franc comes through strongly here, defining the start and finish and in some ways, it needs the Merlot to become more expressive to "fill in the gaps." Of course, that is precisely what élevage is for. This is an intriguing Pessac-Léognan that reminds me of Pomerol (Lafleur perhaps?). Difficult to judge now, I look forward to retasting this once in bottle, because it may well deserve a higher score. Drink: 2025 - 2050
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Robert Parker, Feb 2018, Score: 94+
The 2015 Les Carmes Haut-Brion is a blend of 44% Cabernet Franc, 32% Merlot and 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 24 months in 80% new and 20% one-year-old oak. Deep garnet-purple colored, it has pronounced notes of crushed black and red currants, warm blackberries and black pepper with touches of cedar chest, pencil lead and tilled soil. Medium-bodied, very fine and with plenty of black and red fruit layers, it has a plush backbone and seamless acid, finishing earthy. Lisa Perrotti Brown Drink Dates 2021-2039 Rating 94+/100
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James Suckling, April 2016, Score: 96-97
This shows incredible texture with the finest velvet mouthfeel. Super character of chocolate, walnut and orange peel. Great length and subtlety. Lots of whole berry fermentation and maceration gives the wine grace and fruit. Then it kicks in. Great power and structure at the end. Very unique. 45% cabernet franc, 25% cabernet sauvignon and 30% merlot. 30,000 bottles made.
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Matthew Jukes, April 2016, Score: 17.5+
(41 Merlot, 39 Cabernet Franc, 20 Cabernet Sauvignon) Very tense and firm with energetic tannins lifting a lovely purple nose and bright black cherry fruit. There is a lot of oak here, but it works. Nice and solid, but also long and well-balanced this is a powerful and calm Carmes.
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Jancis Robinson, April 2016, Score: 16
A Stéphane Derenoncourt wine. Dark crimson. Sweet and thick. Not really enough lift and drive. Not obviously a Graves. Too heavy. Drink 2023-2035
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Tim Atkin, May 2016, Score: 93
This bijou property has way less Cabernet Sauvignon in its blend than its more famous First Growth neighbour, but this certainly doesn’t lack structure or ageing potential in 2015. Mint, dried herbs and dense damson and blackcurrant fruit are supported by a frame of tannin and extract. Impressive stuff. Drink: 2025-35
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Wine Spectator, April 2016, Score: 92-95
Deliciously pure and velvety, with plum and blackberry sauce notes gliding along, enhanced by black tea and anise accents. Seductive in feel.
Producer
Château les Carmes Haut-Brion
Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion is one of the tiniest and least known Pessac Leognans. Only a fraction over 4.5 hectares, it is superbly placed - a stone's throw from Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion. Many believe Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion is close to the style of its neighbours as the terroir is basically the same. Due to the minute quantities produced, it is not the easiest wine to find and is sought after the world...Read more
Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion is one of the tiniest and least known Pessac Leognans. Only a fraction over 4.5 hectares, it is superbly placed - a stone's throw from Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion. Many believe Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion is close to the style of its neighbours as the terroir is basically the same. Due to the minute quantities produced, it is not the easiest wine to find and is sought after the world over.Read less
Region
Pessac-Léognan
Stretching from the rather unglamorous southern suburbs of Bordeaux, for 50 km along the left bank of the river Garonne, lies Graves. Named for its gravelly soil, a relic of Ice Age glaciers, this is the birthplace of claret, despatched from the Middle Ages onwards from the nearby quayside to England in vast quantities. It can feel as though Bordeaux is just about red wines, but some sensational white wines are produced in this area from a blend of sauvignon blanc, Semillon and, occasionally, muscadelle grapes, often fermented and aged in barrel. In particular, Domaine de Chevalier is renowned for its superbly complex whites, which continue to develop in bottle over decades. A premium appellation, Pessac-Leognan, was created in 1987 for the most prestigious terroirs within Graves. These are soils with exceptional drainage, made up of gravel terraces built up in layers over many millennia, and consequently thrive in mediocre vintages but are less likely to perform well in hotter years. These wines were appraised and graded in their own classification system in 1953 and updated in 1959, but, like the 1855 classification system, this should be regarded with caution and the wines must absolutely be assessed on their own current merits.
