Wine Advisor
La Tour Haut Brion 2000
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 2000 is the finest La Tour-Haut-Brion made by the Dillon family who acquired this estate in 1983. The wine is sweet, chewy, ripe, and pure, with abundant tannin as well as intensity. It will be at its finest between 2006-2018. It is a blend of 52% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Cabernet Franc.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
A deep, limpid purple hue. This is more closed on the nose than the 2001, but scents of blackberry, cedar and a touch of mint reluctantly emerge to render the bouquet more like a Pauillac. The palate is full-bodied and tannic. Very good delineation, perhaps not as complex as I expected. A bashful, conservative 2000 but like the 1998 it does not fan out on the finish like the more mature vintages such as the 1982 and 1978 tasted alongside. Still, I think this wine has potential and so I would cellar for another 5-7 years. Drinking 2012-2025. Tasted January 2007.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
This may be the finest La Tour-Haut-Brion produced since the estate was acquired by the Dillon family in 1983. A blend of 52% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Cabernet Franc, it reveals an opaque purple color as well as gorgeously sweet aromas of cassis fruit and smoke. Medium to full-bodied and deep, with ripe tannin, excellent definition, and admirable freshness in its long, convincingly rich finish, it will be at its finest between 2006-2023.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Good ruby-red. Nose shows a roasted ripeness: plum, redcurrant, chocolate and tobacco. Sweet, fat and superripe, with complex, expressive flavors of plum, redcurrant, meat, tomato, mocha and tobacco. Finishes with big, dusty tannins and sweet, lingering flavors.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Full medium ruby. Bright nose of plum syrup, menthol, minerals and hot bricks. At once fresh and thick, with a flavor of plum syrup leavened by firm acidity. Vinous and penetrating. Finishes with substantial tooth- and tongue-dusting tannins. This has put on weight during its elevage
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Medium ruby. Black fruit, licorice and smoke aromas, with a slightly roasted quality. Boasts very good intensity and purity of flavor but is not yet showing much flesh or fat. Acids are ripe and harmonious. Finishes with solid tannic support and very good but not outstanding length.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
A blend of 52% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Cabernet Franc, the sexy, complex, fragrant 2000 La Tour Haut-Brion is the finest wine made under the ownership of the Dillon family and their brilliant administrator, Jean-Bernard Delmas. The vintage yielded fabulous raw materials, the vineyard is older, and more young vine Merlot is making it into the blend, thus fattening up what was once a herbaceous, more Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated wine. The dense purple-colored 2000 boasts a gorgeously sweet perfume of plums, black currants, tobacco, and a hint of olives. Sweet, ripe, and medium to full-bodied, with terrific richness, purity, and copious tannin, this is the finest La Tour Haut-Brion since the 1982. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2020.
About the Producer
La Tour Haut Brion was a separate château, under the same ownership as Châteaux Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion. Until 1983 Ch. la Tour Haut-Brion was the second wine of La Mission Haut-Brion, but after the take-over of La Mission and La Tour by the Domaine Clarence Dillon, La Tour gained its own identity. The last vintage of this wine in its own right was 2005, it has since been incorporated into the production of La Mission. The vineyards are planted with 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, 23% Merlot, a similar mix to Haut Brion itself.
