Professional Reviews
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James Suckling
99
Aromas of currants, leaves, fresh mushrooms, oyster shell, tobacco, and dried flowers, following through to a full body, yet ever so refined and polished and it grows on the palate. Lovely, energetic finish. Subtle and driven at the end of the palate.
(02/2021)
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Jeb Dunnuck
97-99
The grand vin 2018 Haut-Brion (49.4% Merlot, 38.7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc) is as deeply colored as its stablemate but has a darker, smoky bouquet of blackcurrants, roasted herbs, tobacco, and gravelly earth. Silky, polished, and ethereally textured on the palate, with beautiful tannins as well as mid-palate density, it's one of the most regal, classic wines in the vintage.
(05/2019)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
97-99
Deep purple-black in color, it is much more closed than the La Mission. It holds back for the first few minutes, reticent to reveal what slowly uncoils to give wave after wave of exotic spices—cardamom, cassis, star anise and fenugreek—over an opulent core of red roses, Black Forest cake, warm cassis and black raspberries with nuances of cigar box, crushed rocks, truffles, tilled black soil, iron ore and smoked meats. The full-bodied palate is truly profound, with restrained black fruit and spice layers slowly offering mineral sparks and savory suggestions within a rock-solid frame of firm, super fine-grained tannins and beautiful freshness, finishing with epic length and depth. This will take longer to come around than the La Mission, but it will be well worth the wait. (LPB) 97-99+
(04/2019)
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Decanter
98
This is powerfully built. Less welcoming than La Mission at this stage but it feels like it is going to pull away increasingly as the decades pass. A serious wine, with layers upon layers of bilberry, blueberry, charcoal, fig, sage and rosemary that peel back over a good half an hour of being poured. (JA)
(11/2020)
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Wine Enthusiast
96
This wine has opulence and concentration, with crisp flavors of ripe yellow fruits. There is so much going on in this impressive wine. It has benefited from the hot summer, yielding a ripe wine that still manages to remain crisp and tight on the finish. (RV)
(04/2019)
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Vinous
94-96
It has a quintessential Haut-Brion bouquet with billowing red cherries, boysenberry, black olive and tobacco aromas. The 2018 coheres beautifully with aeration as more blue fruit emerges. It reminds me of the 2015 at this stage. The palate is medium-bodied with velvety tannin and perfectly judged acidity. There is an unerring symmetry about this First Growth, hints of cracked black pepper and clove towards the layered finish. Maybe what it does not have is the killer precision of a very top vintage, but it is certainly a great Haut-Brion. (NM)
(11/2019)
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Jancis Robinson
Deepest black-cherry colour. Much more subdued on the nose than La Mission but has intense purity. Finely textured and yet dense, the freshness lifting it off the ground even with all the underlying power. Deep-rooted purity and wonderful persistence, all tied up and just with that slight rocky character that finishes dry but not drying. Impressive elegance in a powerful vintage. Firm, dry and yet so much more supple than many wines. Very slightly toasty on the finish but the oak is swallowed by the fruit. 18/20 points (JH)
(03/2019)
K&L Notes
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