- Colour Red
- Producer Château La Mission Haut-Brion
- Region Pessac-Léognan
- Grape Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot / Cabernet Franc
- Drinking 2010 - 2028
- Case size 12x75cl
- Available Now
1995 - Ch La Mission Haut Brion Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan - 12x75cl
- Colour Red
- Producer Château La Mission Haut-Brion
- Region Pessac-Léognan
- Grape Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot / Cabernet Franc
- Drinking 2010 - 2028
- Case size 12x75cl
- Available Now
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This wine is currently only available Duty Paid
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Robert Parker, April 1996, Score: 90-92
The 1995 opens in the glass, but it lacks the profound concentration and expressiveness found in the greatest vintages of this wine. The healthy dark ruby/purple color is followed by toasty, lead pencil, roasted herb, and black fruit aromas. Medium-bodied, with average concentration, this is a round, rich, well-made, but for now, excellent to outstanding rather unequivocally exceptional example of La Mission-Haut-Brion. Its low acidity suggests it will drink well in its youth, much like the 1994. It has 12-15 years of aging potential.All of the wines in this segment were tasted between March 19 and March 28 in Bordeaux. Most of the important wines from both the 1994 and 1995 vintages were tasted three separate times during my ten-day stay in Bordeaux. Drink: 1996-2011.
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Robert Parker, February 1997, Score: 90-92
When tasted in March, 1996, I was not convinced the 1995 La Mission was better than the exceptional 1994, but an additional nine months of cask aging has unleashed the wine's more powerful, richer, riper, sweeter fruit, as well as its more glycerin-endowed, fuller-bodied personality. The dark saturated purple color is followed by aromas of sweet, earthy fruit, but the wine has not yet taken on the additional smoky, tobacco, roasted herb complexity of a great Graves. With low acidity and chewy, full-bodied flavors, this intense 1995 appears to be a top-class La Mission-Haut-Brion, not far off the mark established by the profound 1989 and superb 1990. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2020.
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Robert Parker, January 1998, Score: 92
When tasted in March, 1996, I was not convinced the 1995 La Mission was better than the exceptional 1994, but an additional nine months of cask aging has unleashed the wine's more powerful, richer, riper, sweeter fruit, as well as its more glycerin-endowed, fuller-bodied personality. The dark saturated purple color is followed by aromas of sweet, earthy fruit, but the wine has not yet taken on the additional smoky, tobacco, roasted herb complexity of a great Graves. With low acidity and chewy, full-bodied flavors, this intense 1995 appears to be a top-class La Mission-Haut-Brion, not far off the mark established by the profound 1989 and superb 1990. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2020. Last tasted 11/97.
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Robert Parker, January 2003, Score: 94
Emerging from a very backward state, the 1995 La Mission has a dense ruby/purple color to the rim. Its nose of smoke, sweet charred earth intermixed with black currant and blueberry as well as mineral is beginning to gain intensity. In the mouth this structured, muscular, medium to full-bodied wine has impressive levels of concentration, extract, and tannin. The wine is still very youthful, and not even an adolescent in terms of its development, but quite long in the mouth and extremely promising. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2030. Last tasted, 9/02.
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Robert Parker, February 1998, Score: 91
The 1995 La Mission-Haut-Brion was tight and closed when I tasted it, not revealing as much fragrance or forwardness as it did on the multiple occasions I tasted it from cask. But don't worry, the wine is obviously high-class, exhibiting a dense ruby/purple color, and a reticent but promising nose of roasted herbs, sweet, peppery, spicy fruit, medium to full body, and admirable power, depth, and richness. As outstanding as it is, readers should not expect the 1995 to tower qualitatively over vintages such as 1994. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2020.
Producer
Château La Mission Haut-Brion
Owned by the Dillon family since 1983, La Mission Haut Brion is without doubt one of the mostexceptional wines of Bordeaux. Across the road from Haut Brion, it regularly competes with its moreillustrious older sibling and has even outperformed Haut Brion in certain vintages, such as 2006 when Wine Spectator suggests that it "could be the wine of the vintage".
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.
