Wine Advisor
Haut Brion Blanc 2013
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The Haut Brion Blanc is a blend of 66% Sauvignon Blanc and 34% Semillon, was picked two days earlier than the La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc. It has a mineral-driven bouquet, perhaps more terroir-driven than the La Mission at this point in time. The palate is taut and fresh with crisp acidity, impressive weight in the mouth and a genuine sense of tension towards the sherbet influenced finish. This ought to be divine after bottling. Tasted April 2014.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
As one might expect, this is probably the dry white wine of the vintage. Composed of 70% Semillon and 30% Sauvignon Blanc, it shows no trace of its time spent in 100% new oak, but offers copious notes of lemon oil, orange blossom, honeysuckle, fig and grapefruit. The wine possesses a broad, full-bodied mouthfeel with great precision, freshness and length. Consume it over the next 30+ years.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2013 Haut Brion Blanc, which is a blend of 66% Sauvignon Blanc and 34% Semillon, has a more expressive bouquet than the 2013 La Mission Haut Brion Blanc, with mineral-rich citrus fruit, grapefruit and honeysuckle - all very vivacious. The palate is very well balanced, intense and exuberant with lanolin-tinged citrus fruit, dried pineapple, almond, sweet fig and a dash of lemongrass on the long finish. This is just a superb Haut Brion Blanc that should give two or three decades of pleasure.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2013 Chateau Haut-Brion is a blend of 50% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc and 45.5% Cabernet Sauvignon picked at the same time as La Mission, with 13.10% alcohol. I made two visits to the estate at the beginning and end of my visit. The bouquet is stubborn and reticent at this stage, expressing little in the way of fruit and refusing to really deliver the complexity of a First Growth. The palate is medium-bodied and a little fleshier than the La Mission thought that acidity level is noticeable, rendering this sharp and very linear. This feels somehow autumnal and leafy despite its nascence, but at least there is decent length. As a huge admirer of Jean-Philippe Delmas' work at the estate, but on this occasion there is something almost workmanlike about it, an absence of gravitas and flair that the La Mission appears to muster. Tasted April 2014.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Its bigger sibling, the 2013 Haut-Brion, is a blend of 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. This classic effort tastes like a Haut-Brion, a major accomplishment in this vintage. Slightly fuller, richer and more complete than its nearby rival, La Mission Haut-Brion, it exhibits a deep ruby/purple color as well as hints of scorched earth, barbecue, charcoal, red and black currant, Asian plum sauce and spice notes. Fine-grained tannins are present, but well-integrated, and the acidity is not excessive. The result is a relatively plush, mid-weight, stylish, potentially complex Haut-Brion to drink over the next 15+ years.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2013 Haut Brion has perhaps a little more complexity on the nose compared to the 2013 La Mission Haut-Brion at the moment. There is more depth and plenty of attractive fruit: cranberry, wild strawberry, hickory and a scintilla of scorched earth that becomes quite peaty with time. It is well defined and shows impressive focus. The palate is very well balanced with tensile tannin, a keen thread of acidity, lively in the mouth with more weight and presence than La Mission, though perhaps without quite the same precision at the moment. It still cuts away just a little short on the finish, but this is a decent Haut-Brion that may pull ahead of its "sibling" with bottle age.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
A wine of pure texture, the 2013 Haut-Brion Blanc impresses for its intensity and breadth. Layers of expressive white and yellow stone fruits, pastry, flowers, mint and citrus caress the palate in a resonant, deeply expressive Blanc loaded with class and personality. The layered, inviting finish makes it impossible to resist a second taste. What a gorgeous wine this is. The blend is 76% Semillon and 24% Sauvignon Blanc.
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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Package Size
12 x 75cl
