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Wine Description
The Story
Château Haut-Brion is the oldest and by far the smallest of the "Premiers Grands Crus" vineyards of the Gironde 1855 classification. Château Haut-Brion is one of the few remaining family-owned domains of the Bordeaux region with a history going back to the 16th century. It has been owned by the American Dillon family since 1935.
There is an amazing dual hit of black fruit and fine-grained tannins here, which is rounded off with a wonderful creaminess. The fruit is encased in a huge structure, which is not always easy to assess when tasting en primeur, but it has a lovely fleshiness to it and the wine is multi-layered with flavours evolving in the mouth. Notes of cocoa, vanilla and tar show towards the finish and it all ends completely seamlessly. The tannins are extremely ripe and well-integrated. Ch. Haut-Brion is often understated at this stage, which serves to underline how fine this wine will be.
Château Haut-Brion Thomas Jefferson, the american ambassador to Paris and later President of the United States of America, visited Haut Brion on May 25th 1787 commenting in his journals about the soils of the vineyards as well as mentioning that there were four vineyards of first quality Château Margaux, Château Latour Ségur, Château Haut Brion and Château La Fite. He also wrote:"Haut Brion is a wine of the first rank and seems to please the American palate more than all the others that I have been able to taste in France.“ Jean de Pontac began constituting the Haut-Brion vineyard, in the Graves region, in 1525.
His descendants went on to produce "New French Claret," the precursor of today's great wines. Their efforts enabled Arnaud III de Pontac to sell his wine under the estate's name as early as 1660. Called “vin de Pontac”, then Haut-Brion, it gained a fine reputation and enormous success in London. The first of the Bordeaux great growths was born. Through the centuries, the owners and managers of Haut-Brion have been obsessed with perpetuating the château's reputation for quality. Classified a First Growth in 1855, Haut-Brion has done everything possible ever since then to maintain its standing. To perpetuate its Grand Cru status, an estate and its constituent parts have to be maintained over the centuries, suitable grape varieties for each plot have to be chosen, and a relentless selection process carried out. Today, a great American family, the Dillons, has been continuing this tradition for seventy years.
Wine Information
1995/ A VERY GOOD YEAR
The characteristic of this wine is its harmony between the very soft and very fine structure and the complex aroma given by the earth of the Graves". There is a lot of charm in this bottle which could be consumed either in the next few years or be kept in the cellar as the wine will age remarkably."""
Weather conditions
Sum of temperatures : 3371 °C
Rain : 349 mm
Days where temperature above 30 °C : 30
Harvest : from 11/09/1995 to 26/09/1995
Current vintage notes
1995 was a precocious year. The winter was mild and the spring hot and dry. The bud burst and the flowering were precocious and homogeneous. June, July and August were characterised by hot temperatures and no rain. Some of the vines with superficial roots as for young vines suffered from dryness. The harvest was perfectly ripe and sound although September was cooler than usual and rainy in
the middle of the month.
Vintage 1995
Bordeaux / An excellent year for both sides of the Gironde and just the vintage that Bordeaux needed after the rain affected vintages of the previous 4 years. A mild winter and early spring was followed by a dry, hot summer. It did rain in early September but the rain was less than in the previous 4 vintages and, crucially, there was perfect weather from September 20th through to October.
Quality is high across all levels and appellations, with the Merlot-dominated wines of St-Emilion andPomerol being particularly successful. The best wines are very ripe and display good concentration and structure.
Recommended glass shape
Average Bottle Price
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2012 | 2010 | 2005 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
408€ +11.8% | 365€ -6.4% | 390€ +0.8% | 387€ +14.2% | 339€ +105.5% | 165€ |