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  • Country ranking ?

    17
  • Producer ranking ?

    4
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2040
  • Food Pairing

    Mushroom Risotto

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 1928 and 1929 vintages are considered to be among the greatest back-to-back vintages in Bordeaux history, despite being very different in character. While 1928 was a tannic vintage, 1929 went down in history as the most opulent vintage of the period, until decades later when the great 1959 vintage came along. It was a successful vintage across the board, with the production of ripe, lush, sexy wines on both the Right and Left Bank. Despite critics of the time falsely predicting (as would later befall 1959) that these wines would not last, some of the greatest and most long-lived wines of the century were produced in 1929, specifically on the Right Bank in Pomerol and St-Emilion. These 1929s rank among the most sought-after and expensive wines of all time.

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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.

 

 

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Wine Information

1929 AN EXCEPTIONAL YEAR
Very dense color. The wine is powerful and extremely tannic. Good development in the mouth. Though very rich and complex, it is always dominated by tannin.Needs more time to mature.

Weather conditions
Sum of temperatures : 3267°C
Rain : 225 mm

Current vintage notes
A hot, extremely dry year, the driest since the start of the century. The juices were
very concentrated and the wines characterized by an enormous richness of tannin. Wines slow to mature, but with exceptional structure.

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Vintage 1929

The year 1929 was an extraordinary year in the vineyards of Bordeaux as well as on Wall Street. When the U.S. stock market crashed in 1929, it produced several unwanted effects abroad, especially in Europe, where many countries had not fully recovered from the aftermath of World War I. In Germany the economic disaster and the resulting social dislocation contributed to the rise of Adolf the United States there were 16 million unemployed – about a third of the available labour force.

In Bordeaux the 1929 is one of the “legendary” vintages of the century. Its reputation was made even greater as the 30s were really a catastrophic decade, and it was not until 1945 that anything of equivalent quality was made. In Bordeaux those sixteen years were one of the longest “dark periods” in the 20th century. The year of 1929 was extremely hot and dry, the driest since the beginning of the century. It only rained for a short period during the harvest, but then the fine and hot weather came back again. The grapes became very concentrated, high in tannins and produced wine to last.

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Average Bottle Price

2023 2021 2019 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2005 2000 1995
4 160€ +26.4% 3 290€ +8.6% 3 030€ +10.4% 2 745€ +13.9% 2 411€ +10.1% 2 189€ +5.4% 2 077€ +18.3% 1 756€ -7.2% 1 893€ +42.5% 1 328€ +49.2% 890€ +106.0% 432€ +23.8% 349€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Latest Pro-tasting notes

19 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Full and Brick red

ending

Long and Harsh

flavors

Truffles, Vanilla, Nutty, Chocolate, Apricot and Cherry

nose

Intense, Round, Complex and Fresh

recommend

Yes

taste

Complex, Well-structured, Perfectly balanced, Full-bodied, Rich, Elegant and Round

Written Notes

Beholding the Château Haut-Brion 1929 in the glass is like gazing through a lens into a bygone era, the liquid history softly shimmering with a mature, almost black, gently bricked at the edges, hinting at its storied age.

A luxuriously evolved nose presents a seductive mosaic of dried black cherries, sun-soaked raisins, and an ethereal, dusty library quality, intertwined with whispers of dried roses and soft leather. Unfurling gently, tertiary aromas of truffle, sweet tobacco, and a delicate wisp of smoky cedarwood emerge, weaving a complex aromatic tapestry.

Upon sipping, the palate is caressed by a sublime, albeit fragile, echo of dried red and black fruit, harmoniously melded with layers of earthy forest floor, sweetly decayed leaves, and nuances of worn saddle leather. The tannins, once robust, have softened to a delicate whisper, providing a subtle frame to the gracefully evolved flavors. A venerable acidity persists, whispering of the wine's once-vivid youth and imparting a lingering, ethereal finish, where subtle notes of dried herbs, tea leaves, and a gentle minerality reverberate.

The Château Haut-Brion 1929 offers more than a mere tasting – it is a sensorial journey through the annals of time, an ephemeral connection to the rich tapestry of its storied past and the ancient terroir from which it was born."

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Information

Origin

Pessac-Leognan, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Outstanding

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

Very Good

Fake factory

There is a possibility

Glass time

1h

Drinking temperature

18

Other wines from this producer

Château Haut-Brion Blanc

La Clarté de Haut-Brion

Le Clarence de Haut-Brion

Plantiers de Haut-Brion

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