1989 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: At a 2012 dinner where its great youthful bloom was still much in evidence, full of intense black fruit and exciting variations on the themes of tapenade and peat. But this is all about ripe berries and luscious texture, a wine both for now and for decades into the future. Magnums are even more concentrated, packing a real punch. In 2013, in Cambridge for the 350th anniversary of Pepys naming Haut Brion in his diary, it had huge, glorious impact. 05/13

Jamie Ritchie: Last tasted at dinner with Jean-Philippe Delmas at the chateau in March 2013. Sheer class – tobacco and spice. Totally seductive and alluring. Lives up to and outperforms its great reputation. Outstanding and one of the all time greats! 03/13