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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
A GOOD YEAR
"Evident" would be the defining word to describe this wine. Usually, Haut-Brion is a wine characterized by a certain restraint, obliging the taster to go forward to meet it. Château Haut-Brion 2007 indicates a change. The color is a very deep red-violet. As to the nose, at first the red fruit dominates the evidential signature of our singular 'terroir'. This wine approaches with infinite charm. The mouth is soft and pleasant thanks to an extraction of tannins adapted to this vintage. The obvious freshness carries these tannins towards an impressive lingering on the palette. Each vintage is different but 2007 is honestly unique. Rarely a Haut-Brion
has shown so completely. With 2007, Haut-Brion will surely creep up and seduce you. That is what is extremely evident!
Merlot Noir 43%
Cabernet Sauvignon 44 %
Cabernet Franc 13 %
Weather conditions
Temperature sum : 3 337°C.
Rainfall : 409 mm
Number of days over 30°C : 9
Harvesting began : August 28th – October 5th.
Current vintage notes
Both winter and spring this year were characterized by mild and humid conditions, particularly conducive to the spread of certain vine ailments. Never have the tractors worked more diligently to protect the vines and their fruit. Never has such a great deal of manual labour been necessary to carry out canopy management tasks not feasible using machines when only the best possible results will do: early removal of leaves from late June on the east (morning sun) side, carefully
executed thinning of laterals and shoots to lighten the burden on the vine, but also
to distribute the remaining clusters for better aeration, and a later, meticulous removal of further leaves so as not to damage the berries on the west (afternoon sun) side.
Fair weather during the month of September perm
