2000 Haut Brion, Pessac-Leognan

Representative blend: 45% Merlot, 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. The second wine is Clarence de Haut Brion (previously Bahans Haut Brion).

Haut Brion is sited across the road from its sister property, La Mission Haut Brion. Both are within the southern suburbs of the city of Bordeaux, and surrounded by development on all sides. It is in part this very specific (and quite warm) microclimate which gives Haut Brion its unique taste - Havana tobacco, earth and spice. It can also be the most velvety and seductive of all the first growths, and to some extent remains underappreciated for its myriad subtleties and beauties.

Haut Brion has been owned by the American Clarence Dillon family since the 1930s.

Tasting Note

Serena Sutcliffe, MW: The most glorious, ebullient, show-stopping, almost wild nose of red and black fruit. Phenomenal richness, glycerol and gummy black fruit on the palate. The tannins are so full and rich. Showy and flag-waving. Stupendous. Another bottle had such a nose of pure breed and so much silk on the palate, with huge Havana flavours. 2005