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News
“The second wine of Haut-Brion is now called Le Clarence de Haut-Brion, and the 2010 is among the finest I have tasted there. It is a broad, powerful and more muscular wine than its cross-street rival, La Chapelle de la Mission, but all the same, it is wonderfully fresh and precise, with notes of blueberry and boysenberry as well as hints of smoke and wet stones. Endowed with gorgeous fruit, texture, purity and elegance, this relatively dense second wine demonstrates how draconian the selection process has become for the top estates in Bordeaux in recent years. The blend of this wine is 52% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest mostly Cabernet Franc with just a touch of Petit Verdot. I would expect it to last at least 20 years, which is remarkable.” -Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (93 Points)
Wine Description
The Story
This second wine from the legendary 1855 Premier Cru Classé was renamed Le Clarence de Haut-Brion starting with the 2007 vintage, a tribute to Clarence Dillon, who acquired the estate in 1935. Earlier vintages - up to the beginning of the 20th century – carry the name Château Bahans Haut-Brion.
Wine Information
2010 Overall impression: It is always difficult to talk objectively about one's children. This is what we have to do as winegrowers when we describe the new vintage every year: it is like our youngest child. This year, the key word will certainly be "balance". However, it was by no means easy. Once again, the various components in the grapes all beat their previous records, in quantitative terms. The winegrower's skill this year was in adapting to nature's generosity, in order to achieve a perfect balance.
The main climatic feature of this vintage: a dry year with an arid summer.
The weather during the growing season, from early April to late September, was the driest since 1949. Total rainfall was just over half the average for the past 60 years: 225 mm compared to the usual 400 mm. (For your information, the wettest summer was 1992, with nearly 700 mm! Interestingly, 2005 was the second-driest vintage after 2010, with 229 mm).
This water deficit caused dehydration in the vines, concentrating the grape juice and producing the highest values ever measured, particularly in terms of sugar content.The very cool nights promoted the accumulation of anthocyanins, so the 2010 red wines are the deepest-coloured in recent years.
Human intervention:
Our team started leaf-thinning as early as the end of June. We removed the leaves on the east- and north-facing sides in the fruit-bearing zone. This ventilates the grape bunches so that any humidity dries more rapidly. It is also beneficial in a drought, as it reduces evapotranspiration via the leaves.Bunch-thinning started in mid-July, to reduce the yield on each vine and spread it more evenly. The objective was to produce less than one bottle per vine.
After this operation, mainly aimed at controlling quantity, we decided to carry out bunch-thinning a third time in each plot this year. The focus was essentially on quality, eliminating any second-growth grapes from the upper part of the canopy and removing any late- or poorly-set fruit (underdeveloped grapes due to problems during flowering). Finally, we trimmed some grape bunches for the same reason, cutting off the parts commonly known as "winglets".
We maintained relatively low temperatures during fermentation, to preserve the fruity aromas. Skin contact was relatively short this year, as there was no need to "flesh out" the wines.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to make the best blend, as the wines had certainly never reached such a high level of overall quality. That was the paradox: to identify the wines, among all the samples of each grape variety from each plot, that would compose the best-balanced blend. We did not hesitate to set aside wines from the best vineyards if they had too marked a structure and were likely to spoil the overall balance. We spent one month testing over thirty blends before we found the "Holy Grail".
However, this quest for perfection required a number of sacrifices. The "first wines" represent less than half the total production at both estates. As yields in 2010 were the lowest in the past 10 years, the production of our "first wines" is significantly lower than last year ‒ indeed, this is one of the smallest vintages since 1991.
Vintage 2010
Drought and cool temperatures contribute to optimal ripeness
The sum of summer temperatures in 2010 was close to that of summer 2009 (962°C compared to 982°C), but significantly colder than those of 2005, which totaled 1052°C. These cool temperatures had a substantial influence on the balance of our wines, preserving a good level of acidity and an attractive aromatic freshness.
Very little precipitation (only 267 mm) from March to August 2010 generating a drought of similar intensity to that of 2005, when only 227 mm of rain fell.
Another characteristic of the 2010 vintage is the low temperatures especially during the first three weeks of August, which allowed good acidity levels to be preserved in the grapes while maintaining an attractive aromatic freshness.
