Wine Advisor
Haut Brion Blanc 1998
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 1998 Haut-Brion-Blanc (96-100) is a sensationally powerful wine with the texture of a grand cru Burgundy and the complexity afforded by the Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 1998 Haut-Brion-Blanc (96-100) is a sensationally powerful wine with the texture of a grand cru Burgundy and the complexity afforded by the Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend. (No tasting note was provided in Issue 128. We have instead included the text of the tasting note from Issue 122)
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted blind, the 1998 Haut-Brion Blanc served as a pertinent reminder of how this wine needs bottle age. Here it has a captivating bouquet of lemon curd, custard cremes, lemon thyme and minerals that just explode from the glass, later offering Japanese yellow plum and sherbet scents. The palate is creamy-textured with perfect acidity and fine tension. This is very harmonious and assured, sporting great depth on the marzipan-tinged finish that is long and sensual, and yet it is clear that this Haut-Brion Blanc will age with style and panache. Tasted April 2015.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
A prodigious example, the 1998 tastes like liquid minerals intermixed with honeyed grapefruit, lanolin, citrus, smoke, and passion fruit. Full-bodied, with good acidity, plenty of structure, and a tremendously long finish, it remains youthful and tight, but the upside is awesome. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2035. Last tasted, 1/03.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 1998 Haut-Brion-Blanc (96-100) is a sensationally powerful wine with the texture of a grand cru Burgundy and the complexity afforded by the Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend. (No tasting note was provided in Issue 134. We have instead included the text of the tasting note from Issue 122)
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Jean Delmas is thrilled with what he achieved at Haut-Brion and La Mission-Haut-Brion in 1998. It is one of the great successes of the vintage. Moreover, it is the paradigm for elegance allied to power. The color is an opaque purple. The nose offers up sweet black fruits intermixed with roasted herbs, pain grille, and minerals. There is a sensational, plush texture, yet the wine comes across as medium-bodied, with multiple levels of flavor, as well as gorgeous ripeness and purity. It possesses fine density, but there is no sense of heaviness or imbalance. It is a brilliant classic. Lovers of this estate's distinctive, highly individualized, complex wines should not miss it. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2025.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
A deep garnet core with deep brick rim. The nose is just fantastic, just soars from the glass with brilliant delineation and freshness; black olives, blackberry leaf, blueberry and a touch of iodine. At this stage it has slightly more breeding than the La Mission, although that wine has more immediacy. The palate is awesome: full-bodied, more structure than La Mission, nigh on perfect balance and tension. There is a natural quality to this wine, a beguiling sense of harmony that will ensure that this will become the best Haut Brion since the 1989 (on par with the criminally overlooked 1990.) The finish has a gorgeous suppleness to it: notes of blackberry, cherry liqueur, black olives and a touch of oyster shell. Very long in length. Awesome. Tasted March 2008.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Still incredibly youthful and sporting a lot of fruit, the deep garnet-brick colored 1998 Haut-Brion sashays out of the glass with flamboyant red and black fruits, followed by a train of cassis, blueberry pie and chocolate box notions plus accents of iron ore, dried lavender and underbrush. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is wonderfully rich and decadently seductive in its generosity of fruit and velvety texture, offering seamless freshness and finishing with epic length and compelling minerality. Oh so delicious right now, with careful cellaring it should continue to excite through 2045 and beyond.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 1998 continues to emulate the style of recent prodigious Haut-Brions. With all due respect to the glorious 1995, the 1998 appears to be the finest wine produced since Haut-Brion's prodigious 1989 and 1990. It reveals more aromatic and flavor dimensions than it did last year. The dense ruby/purple color is followed by classic, developing aromas of minerals, lead pencil, earth, and black cherries/currants. On the palate, additional dimensions and nuances unfold. Tannic and powerful, but with sweet fruit, ripe tannin, and great length and richness, this profound, firmly-structured Haut-Brion will require 4-6 years of bottle age; it should drink well for three decades.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
First tasted in July 2001 at the chateau. Inky black core. Nose more closed than Mission. A masculine wine with massive dark fruits. Still tight and backward. Herbaceous, multi-dimensional wine that ranks with Lafite as wine of the vintage on the Left-Bank. Tasted again at the Haut-Brion Vertical in April 2004. Deep ruby core - the rim looks less youthful than expected. The nose is already developing secondary aromas. Minerals, a touch of leather and rich black fruits. A full-bodied, decadent palate of sweet ripe black fruits and super-smooth tannins. A touch of mocha. Lacks a bit of grip. Showy. I cannot believe how much this wine has changed since en primeur. Sweet black cherry finish. Lighter and more open than expected. Try again in a couple of years.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
As reported over the last two years, this is a prodigious Haut-Brion. It exhibits a dense ruby/purple color in addition to a tight, but incredibly promising nose of smoke, earth, minerals, lead pencil, black currants, cherries, and spice. This full-bodied wine unfolds slowly, but convincingly on the palate, revealing a rich, multi-tiered, stunningly pure, symmetrical style with wonderful sweetness, ripe tannin, and a finish that lasts for nearly 45 seconds. It tastes like liquid nobility. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2035.
About the Producer
Haut-Brion has long produced the most prestigious Graves Blanc, although it faced strong competition from its neighbour La Mission Haut-Brion, which had been producing its own white wines under the Laville Haut-Brion label until 2009, when it was rebranded as La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc (both estates are under the same ownership). With very small production since the first vintage in 1916, La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc has always been a wine of considerable strength and longevity; its rarity, and the fact that it is the only white wine produced by a first growth in the Graves, makes it highly sought after by collectors. The estate's first growth status does not include white wines and it remains unclassified. Of the 52 hectares planted on the estate, only 2.9 are white: 53% Sémillon and 47% Sauvignon Blanc. (There are also a few rows of Sauvignon Blanc today, but they were not planted in 1989). They are planted on a 27m high hillock opposite the château. The soil is very deep gravel, on a clay subsoil. There is less clay than in Lamena and a different mix of varieties, with much more Sauvignon Blanc in Haut-Brion. The whole estate is located within the city limits of Bordeaux and therefore benefits from a warmer microclimate. Yields range from 25-40 litres/ha. Harvesting is carried out by hand, at maximum ripeness, so that the wines vary from 13% to 14% alcohol. Sorting takes place in the vineyard and the grapes are pneumatically pressed in whole bunches with no skin contact. Fermentation was carried out in oak barrels with native yeasts, but malolactic fermentation was prevented. The wines were decanted every three or four months and aged for 10 to 12 months, with very little stirring of the lees. In the 1980s it was common for wines to be aged entirely in new oak barrels, but today this percentage is around 50%. Production varies from 5,500 to 8,500 bottles. In 2000, the British critic Tom Cannavan enthused: "The nose has a wax and wet wool character, very buttery, with a gorgeous weight of fruit and little floral notes in the peaches, vanilla and nuts. Wonderful fruit ripeness gives a sweet impression, lots of oranges and lush apricots ...... A long, very concentrated and pure finish. Recently, American critic Jeff Leve reported on the 2010 vertical tasting, noting that the 1989 "opens with freshly picked flowers, honey, caramel, grass, lemon and lime aromas. Accompanied by a rich, polished fruit texture, the wine finishes with a blend of citrus flavours".
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