- Colour Red
- Producer Château Haut-Brion
- Region Pessac-Léognan
- Drinking 2029 - 2055
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
2021 - Ch Haut Brion 1er Grand Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan - 6x75cl
- Colour Red
- Producer Château Haut-Brion
- Region Pessac-Léognan
- Drinking 2029 - 2055
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
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Neal Martin, April 2022, Score: 95-97
The 2021 Haut-Brion has a more extravagant, charming bouquet compared directly with the La Mission at the moment, offering copious blackberry, black truffle, undergrowth and menthol scents. The palate is very well balanced, harmonious and poised, with fine-grained tannins and an almost pixelated finish. This Haut-Brion seems to have reveled in the cooler growing season, and at 13.8% alcohol, there is almost a degree less than recent vintages. Jean-Philippe Delmas has fashioned a contender for wine of the vintage. Drink 2030 - 2065
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Wine Advocate, April 2022, Score: 96-98
A candidate for the title of wine of the vintage, the 2021 Haut-Brion unwinds in the glass with aromas of rich red and black fruit mingled with notions of cigar wrapper, licorice, black truffles, loamy soil and burning embers. Full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it's elegant and multidimensional, with superb depth at the core, lively acids and ultra-refined tannins. Combining the classical proportions of the vintages of two decades ago with the viticultural and winemaking of today, it's a timeless classic in the making, but it's difficult to find an obvious analogy with an older vintage. When pressed, Jean-Philippe Delmas suggests a superior version of the 2014 vintage, and to me, a more concentrated, serious version of the 2012 vintage also comes to mind. What is clear, however, is that this is one of the real high points of 2021. The blend is 50% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Cabernet Franc, and it attained 13.8% alcohol—a percentage point or so lower than in 2020 or 2019.
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Antonio Galloni, April 2022, Score: 95-97
The 2021 Haut-Brion is all class, all finesse. Naturally the overt intensity of recent vintages is replaced by a more understated style in 2021. Silky tannins caress a core of dark cherry/plum fruit. Hints of lavender, new leather, cloves and menthol gradually open. The trademark Haut-Brion aromatics are going to need a number of years in bottle to develop. The 2021 is hardly a blockbuster, and yet in many ways it is so primary. Drink 2031-2061
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Goedhuis, April 2022, Score: 98-99
An outstanding wine showing the layered complexity that is expected from this great estate. A deeply nuanced wine, sometimes requiring deep thought as all its manifold layers and flavours slowly unfold. This is classical throughout, with its dark cassis, olive and cigar box scent. The initial impact is bold and confident and the initial intensity of fruit slowly unfurls to reveal sweeter, coffee-scented flavours. The tannins are kept perfectly in check by the depth of fruit. Very layered, the vibrant acidity gives length and huge reward on the finish. Superb.
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Wine Cellar Insider, April 2022, Score: 95-97
Flowers, tobacco wrapper, chocolate, burning wood, ash, cigar box, currants, black cherries and spice. On the palate, the wine fresh, bright, vibrant, lifted and floral. The wine is elevated, refined, soft and silky with refreshing, silky edge to the fruits in the finish. There is richness and waves of fruit on the palate, but the waves are small and continuous. This is a good example of a modern classic Haut-Brion. The wine blends 50% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Cabernet Franc, 13.85% ABV. Harvesting took place September 13, finishing October 8, making this one of the longer harvest periods for Haut Brion. 48 hectoliters per hectare, with 43% of the harvest placed into the Grand Vin. Drink from 2027-2060.
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Matthew Jukes, April 2022, Score: 19+
This is the darkest of the four reds from Domaine Clarence Dillon, and it is the richest and most indulgent, too. The oak is carefully judged, and while the tannins are powerful and command the entire back end of the experience, there is a lot of fruit up front. Unlike La Mission, it is allowed to stroll around on the palate relatively unhindered. The fruit is sublime, and the weight and tenderness in the mid-palate are heavenly. The balance and freshness are thrilling, and the touches of exoticism and variety of red and black fruit notes are kaleidoscopic.
Producer
Château Haut-Brion
Arguably the oldest recognised Bordeaux grand cru, Haut Brion has been owned by the American Dillon family since 1935. The Château was an early moderniser - the first estate to implement steel vats in 1961 - and over the years, their incredible investments have re-established the inherent quality of this property, enabling it to emerge as possibly the most consistent first growth since the 1980s. Situated in Pessac-Léognan ...Read more
Arguably the oldest recognised Bordeaux grand cru, Haut Brion has been owned by the American Dillon family since 1935. The Château was an early moderniser - the first estate to implement steel vats in 1961 - and over the years, their incredible investments have re-established the inherent quality of this property, enabling it to emerge as possibly the most consistent first growth since the 1980s. Situated in Pessac-Léognan in Graves, the estate is the only classified growth located outside the Médoc. Château Haut Brion has the most Merlot and the most Cabernet Franc of any of the First Growths and the second wine is Le Clarence de Haut-Brion, known as Ch Bahans Haut Brion prior to 2007.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.
