- Colour Red
- Producer Château La Mission Haut-Brion
- Region Pessac-Léognan
- Grape Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot / Cabernet Franc
- Drinking 2021 - 2034
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
2013 - Ch La Mission Haut Brion Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan - 6x75cl
- Colour Red
- Producer Château La Mission Haut-Brion
- Region Pessac-Léognan
- Grape Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot / Cabernet Franc
- Drinking 2021 - 2034
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
Select pricing type
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Goedhuis, April 2014, Score: 92-95
Careful selection has meant that only 39% of the production has gone into the Grand Vin this year. This is a gorgeous 2013, with perfumed loganberry fruits on the nose. On the palate this has natural volume and is stylishly refined and elegant. Famed for performing in more difficult years this La Mission really hits the spot and has a feeling of distinguished class on the finish. Very good.
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Neal Martin, October 2016, Score: 91
The 2013 La Mission Haut Brion, a blend of 65% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, has a very pretty bouquet. It is not intense or powerful, as you would anticipate given the growing season, but it unfurls in the glass to reveal wild strawberry, raspberry and dried quince scents, augmented by dried orange peel and bay leaf scents. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin on the entry. This is fresh in the mouth, focused and in the context of the 2013 vintage, quite vivacious, full of energy, especially on the finish. While it might lack the depth, that Merlot lends it the fleshiness that lifts this La Mission Haut Brion above others. 2019-2032
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Neal Martin, April 2014, Score: 91-93
A blend of 65% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, picked between 24 September and 11 October, Jean-Philippe Delmas told me that they finished on a Sunday since the risk of botrytis was so high. The pH is 3.58 with 13.25% alcohol. The first sample at the beginning of primeur was not showing well, the second much better with blackberry, bay leaf and a seaweed scents that becomes increasingly intense. Overall the aromatic profile is not powerful but quite elegant, recalling some of the lighter vintages that I have tasted in the past. The palate is medium-bodied with noticeable acidity on the entry. There is a citric freshness here with lively red cherry and dark plum fruit laced with white pepper. It is a linear La Mission, perhaps missing the peacock’s tail on the finish but composed and refreshing in the mouth. Not a bad wine by a long stretch, but there are plenty of superior La Mission Haut-Brion wines produced in recent years.
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Robert Parker, August 2014, Score: 88-89
Its big sister, the 2013 La Mission Haut-Brion (65% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc) represents 3,000 cases. This very good to excellent 2013 exhibits a deep plum/ruby color as well as notes of subtle barbecue spice, black currants, incense and wet rocks. With good fruit on the attack, medium body and a short finish, it has the potential to be outstanding if it fleshes out. Drink it over the next 10-15 years
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Decanter, April 2014
Superb ruby red, lovely nose of slightly earthy autumn fruits, fine texture, purity and harmony, not robust, almost a feminine La Mission, expressive and sophisticated. Drink: 2018-2030
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Matthew Jukes, April 2014, Score: 17.5+
There is rather good balance here in spite of the very strict tannins. They are refreshing, not hard, which makes the wine grippingly exciting. A shorter 2 week maceration (as opposed to 3 week) meant that the fruit is tender and the palate shows more finesse. They only pumped-over at the beginning and decreased new oak by 10-20%. This has resulted in vibrant mulberry tones, luscious impact and tart acidity. It is so much livelier and musical than other leaden-footed Pessac-Léognan wines.
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Jancis Robinson, April 2014, Score: 16.5
65% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc. Ghostly nose – just an impression of black fruit. Pretty full-on tannins, and more than a dash of leafiness. Very delicately rendered, apart from the pretty firm grip. (RH)
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Tim Atkin, May 2014, Score: 92
By the standards of recent vintages, this is a very restrained, medium-bodied La Mission. Red fruits, summer pudding and rose petal are the dominant aromas and flavours, with wellintegrated oak. But the acidity is high and even a little tart here. 2020-26
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.
