Wine Advisor
Haut Brion Blanc 2022
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Yohan Castaing
Delivering aromas of peach, sweet orchard fruit, spring flowers and lemon oil, the 2022 Haut-Brion Blanc is a full-bodied wine with a seamless, enveloping profile. Its glossy, textural mid-palate that segues into a sappy, racy finish of crystalline purity. A blend of 51.4% Sémillon and 48.6% Sauvignon Blanc, this wine is fatter and fleshier than the more tensile La Mission Haut-Brion and will in all likelihood offer a broader drinking window.
Reviewed by: Yohan Castaing
The 2022 Haut-Brion shows considerable promise, revealing aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with notions of pencil lead, licorice, tobacco leaf, spices and incense. Full-bodied, broad and seamless, it's rich and muscular, with a deep, layered core of fruit framed by an ample endowment of tannin. This blend of 53.6% Merlot, 35.4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Cabernet Franc, the result is a lip-smacking exemplification of controlled power. Analytically, the 2022 possesses a similar level of tannins to the 2010, and a similar pH to the 2009, yet it is more suave and polished than the 2010 at the same stage, and seemingly more dynamic than the 2009.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2022 Haut-Brion Blanc is quite bold and expressive on the nose: white flowers, lavender oil and light, waxy aromas. The palate is fresh on entry with an attractive texture, missing some acidity and tension, so I wonder if it might begin to pall by the second glass? Just a bit Rhône-like in style on the finish, which might be your bag. This is outclassed by several peers in this flight of '22 dry white Bordeaux. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.
Reviewed by: Yohan Castaing
More flamboyant and expressive than La Mission, the 2022 Haut-Brion Blanc reveals aromas of white fruits, spices, ripe orchard fruits and spring flowers. Full-bodied, seamless and fleshy, with bright acids and a pure, lively profile, it's long and elegant, concluding with a saline, penetrating and delicately mordant finish.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Dried lemon and lime with honeysuckle and stone aromas, that follow through to a full body with fantastic length and energy at the end. Phenolics give it great length and stature. 51.4% semillon and 48.6% sauvignon blanc.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
This shows superb structure with a tight and intense center palate of fruit and phenolics. It's full-bodied but extremely reserved and muscular with very fine texture. The palate shows apples, pears, lemons and some crushed stones. Lilacs as well. Really minerally. A great Haut Brion blanc. Drink after 2029.
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
1 x 75cl3 x 75cl
