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Wine Description
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.
Wine Information
If the wine producers from different regions were asked to name the best vintages from their winemaking history, the most would name 1947 or 1945 as one of the great ones. If we then compared them together there would be most likely only one vintage that the most if not every producer had named on list – 1947.
Tb wanted to test that theory and we tasted them agains each other and the winner was 1947 – by far.
The vintage 1947 was a magical vintage. It remains in the history as one of the only vintages that all well-established quality wine regions in the world were blessed with superb weather conditions. The heat waves were experienced all around the world and for instance the whole Europe was bating under scorching sun and experiencing a heat wave during the summer. This resulted very concentrated and highly ripe grapes. The producers had challenges to handle the very ripe grapes with high sugar levels as there was a constant risk of bacterial contamination in less hygenic cellars that had no artifical cooling systems. As there was no technology to use, many invoked on huge blocks of ice to cool the room temperautre down and even putting ice in their fermentation tanks.
This vintage has proven to yield very long lasting wines from all around the world. The wines are marked with sweet and ripe fruit character and warming alcohol. Due to the poorly hygenic winemaking facilities, many of the wines show volatile characters. Some might find this as a fault, but for many mature wine lovers this feature is even a preferred character. However, when buying the wines from this vintage, one should be aware that there is high level of bottle variations and the risk of having highly volatile wines is remarkably high.
Vintage 1947
Where the 1945 represents sophistication, nuance and classic character, the 1947 stands for richness, robustness and succulence. Spring was delayed that year, which meant a late start to the growing season. The summer warmed up towards fall and the abundant sunshine caused the grapes to ripen very quickly. Daytime temperatures ranged between 35 and 38°C. The crop was finally harvested in almost tropical conditions, when a storm ravaged Bordeaux on September 19 and 20.
Fortunately, a large percentage of the grapes had already been harvested. The grapes were unusually hot during picking and the volatile acids caused problems for many vineyards during fermentation. The end result was an absolutely extraordinary vintage, which turned out magnificent, particularly on the Right Bank and in Sauternes. Even young, these reds were exceptionally drinkable. Their life cycle, on the other hand, has been surprisingly varied. The wines of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion proved superior to the Médocs and Graves. The supreme wine of this vintage is most certainly Château Cheval Blanc, which, in terms of mouthfeel, is perhaps the greatest wine of the entire 20th century. Why the White Horse was so successful that year is a mystery. Unlike what happened to so many others, the White Horse did not suffer from an excess of volatile acids.
Everything from vineyard microclimate to production have been offered as explanations. Because the weather was unusually warm, there were no humid morning mists in the vineyards, limiting conditions for the formation of natural yeasts that increase volatility. The heat also killed the natural yeasts and the amount was generally lower than normal. Fermentation was carried out in small concrete tanks, which provided effective insulation against external heat and maintained sufficiently low temperatures, thus preventing the formation of volatile acids. Another very interesting aspect of the production of Cheval Blanc was its maturation for 5 to 10 years in old barrels; This was because new oak barrels were not available after the depression and war years. In all its glory, the 1947 Cheval Blanc caricatures modern winemaking as an incredible example of the heights that can be reached without the aid of technology. In addition to the Cheval, the Pétrus and the Lafleur are vintage gems.
