2018 CH LA MISSION HAUT BRION GRAND CRU CLASSÉ PESSAC-LÉOGNAN - 6x75cl

Tasting Notes

• 

  Goedhuis, April 2019,
  Score: 97-98

  A truly lovely La Mission with a very similar overall make up to Haut-Brion with 53% Merlot and 47% Cabernets. On this occasion, despite its lovely quality on the day, it had to play second fiddle to its first growth neighbour. Similar smoky dark fruits and black olive aromas. This is full of ripeness and charm, very scented with damsons and Caribbean spice. There are so many rewards and flavours in this wine from mocha and coffee to dark winter hedgerow fruits. Delicious volume, svelte tannins and superb length.

• 

  Antonio Galloni, April 2019,
  Score: 90-93

  The 2018 La Mission Haut-Brion is bright and punchy, with lovely radiant fruit and a good deal of immediacy. Sweet red and purplish berry fruit, mint, tobacco, blood orange and wild flowers all grace this expressive, open-knit La Mission. It will be interesting to see what develops with élevage. Today, La Mission is decidedly expressive, and yet its typical layers of nuance are not yet especially in evidence. In 2018, La Mission is 53.5% Merlot, 42.9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3.6% Cabernet Franc.

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  Wine Advocate, April 2019,
  Score: 98-100

  The 2018 La Mission Haut-Brion is composed of 53.5% Merlot, 42.9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3.6% Cabernet Franc, harvested September 10 to October 2. Deep purple-black in color, it slowly unfurls to reveal a beguiling nose of earth and soft-spoken fruit, opening with wild blueberries, wet slate, pencil lead and fresh black cherries giving way to a serious core of blackcurrant cordial, baked plums and wild sage, and then exposing delicate wafts of rose hip tea and candied violets. Full-bodied, the palate is very tightly wound and super intense with amazing restraint and energy focused around very firm, exquisitely fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing incredibly long and fantastically multilayered. Extraordinary wine.

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  James Suckling, April 2019,
  Score: 97-98

  A tight and linear red with fantastic oyster-shell, iodine and crushed-stone character, complementing the currants and blackberries. Extremely long and fresh.

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  Decanter, April 2019,
  Score: 97

  An extremely fine Mission, just beginning to say its piece. It's dense, gorgeously velvety in texture and bursting with fruit and energy. On the palate you get liquorice and dark chocolate notes, showing clear generosity while easily walking the line of balance. The longer it sits in the glass, the more the minerality takes hold on the mid-palate, doling out its tiny sparks of electricity and holding your attention. The subtle smoke, freshly cut herbs and tight tannins steal up on you, planting their flag in the finish. Harvested 10 September to 2 October, giving a 44hl/ha yield. 1% Petit Verdot completes the blend. IPT 75.8. The 3.76pH is the highest since 1989. Drinking Window 2023 - 2032

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  Matthew Jukes, April 2019,
  Score: 18++

  This is a blunt and tough La Mission with muscle and power and it is not showing much fruit, preferring to lead with skin tannin and oak notes. The dryness and intensity of the skin derived flavours are rather arresting and this dents the flow of the wine across the palate. There are slight coffee bean notes and some tobacco details here, but overall this is a square, monolithic wine which needs a lot of time and also some serious softening of the tannins to fall into balance.

• 

  Julia Harding, April 2019,
  Score: 17.5+

  Deepest crimson with very dark core. Intense, pure aromatic cassis and a hint of cassis leaf, though fully ripe. Smells very Cabernet. And the tannins are upright and structured but extremely lithe and supple. No thickness here. Agile. Just a little chewy on the finish. So seemingly approachable and full of energy. Drink 2026-2040

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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".