x
  • Country ranking ?

    51
  • Producer ranking ?

    2
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2040
  • Food Pairing

    Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

La Mission Haut Brion is situated in Bordeaux' southern suburb, Talence. From 1919 and until 1983, it was Woltner family, who had owned this property. Under Woltner's reign, La Mission Haut Brion experienced one of its greatest period with string of fine vintages and was considered then as fully on the level with First Growths and sometimes even better than these. In 1983, owners of Haut Brion purchased La Mission Haut Brion and today its Jean Philippe Delmas, who's responsible for this property.

 

La Mission-Haut-Brion's vineyards (Cabernet Sauvignon 48%, Merlot 45%, Cabernet Franc 7%) lie on a large (up to 18 metres deep in places) gravel bank interspersed with clay. The wine is fermented in temperature-controlled, stainless steel vats and then matured in oak barriques (100% new) for 18 months. The wines of La Mission Haut Brion are rich, oaky and powerful and need at least 10 years of bottle ageing before they should be broached.

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Wine Information

Created by the noble Lestonnac family in the early years of the sixteenth century, the vineyard of La Mission Haut-Brion owes its name and its reputation to the Prêcheurs de la Mission, the Bordeaux branch of the Congrégation de la Mission de Sainte-Lazare, who held the property from 1682 until the French Revolution. The estate was first time awarded with the Gold Medal at the 1862 International Exhibition in London.

The signature of the estate wines are complex flavours of mixture of red fruits, cigar. dark chocolate, roasting and cedar wood. On palate, wine shows always fine and silky tannins.

Vineyard: 26.6 hectares (65.7 acres)

Varietals: 42.7% Merlot, 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10.3% Cabernet Franc

Average time spend in oak: 18-22 months (80% new oak)

Annual Production: 6,000-7,000 cases


VINTAGE 1989

Sum of temperature: 3408°C
Rain: 355mm
Days of temperature above 30°C: 24 days

Harvest: 29/08/1989 to 20/09/1989

Historically an early vintage. The growing season was particularly hot, sunny, and dry providing ideal conditions for budding, flowering, veraison, maturity and harvest. An exceptional year produced an exceptionel wine.


TASTING NOTES

The wine has a handsome color deep and mature. The nose finds that the perfect maturity of the fruit is dominating the tasting. One even finds the softness of the wine in the nose. In the mouth the subtleties of the aromas evolve bit by bit. THe ripe tannins make up a taut and fleshy base. Nevertheless all is harmoniously melded together. One notes the scent of cigar, cedar wood, an unusually exotic touch of vanilla, cloves and orange peel, ending with a storng whiff of truffle. All these evolve together and give a sensation of silky unctuosity. This is a legendary wine.

To taste rather between now and 2030.



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Vintage 1989

Bordeaux: The 2nd in a trio of great vintages and which produced a large harvest of ripe, rich and fleshy wines which generally possess soft, silky tannins, accompanied by a high alcohol level. It was the hottest summer since 1949 and the harvest began on August 28, the earliest since 1893. The grapes were harvested in dry conditions, the only concern being that some acidity levels were low, which which has led to suggestions that some wines would not be suitable for long-term aging. Ten years later, these fears have proven to be largely unfounded, as the best wines are now showing extremely well, showing concentration and great complexity.

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

35 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Deep and Ruby red

ending

Long, Lingering and Pure

flavors

Blackcurrant, Smoky, Blackberry, Blueberry, Voluptuous and Toasty

nose

Intense, Ripe, Generous and Rich

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Medium tannin, Well-structured, Balanced, Concentrated, Youthful, Medium-bodied, One-dimensional, Firm, Fresh, Fruity and Silky tannins

Verdict

Intelligent and Sophisticated

Written Notes

The 1989 La Mission Haut Brion was not as opulent as usual.  It had some tootsie pop, chocolatey flavors, but it was a touch cooked and off (95+A).

  • 95p

1989 Château La Mission Haut-Brion
Ruby. Blueberries, cassis, light tobacco, dates, figs, nuanced, layered, incredible nose, on a different level. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, what hits you is the mouthfeel and texture, layered, detailed, intense and spicy, liquorice, incredible balance, incredible concentration, I think this is the best bottle of red wine I have ever tried. This is breaking the scales. Minutes of aftertaste. 100

  • 100p
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Information

Origin

Pessac-Leognan, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Outstanding

Value For Money

Best buy

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

None

Glass time

2h
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