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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
Château Haut-Brion 1947
AN EXCEPTIONAL YEAR
The wine is hard and tannic, giving it a slight bitter taste. But on the whole it is concentrated, complex, long. The bouquet is very flowery. A wine which needs more time.
Weather conditions
Sum of temperatures : 3478 °C
Rain : 259 mm
Current vintage notes
The hottest year (after 1976) in a half. century, making up part of the cycle of dry
years 1945, '46, '47, '49) which brought swarms of locusts to the Southwest, as far as Bordeaux. During the summer there were 42 days of high heat; water was rationed in the Gironde. Wine of exceptional power.
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.
Recommended glass shape
Average Bottle Price
| 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2005 | 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 409€ +6.0% | 1 329€ +45.9% | 911€ +9.5% | 832€ -24.2% | 1 098€ -3.9% | 1 143€ +46.0% | 783€ +78.8% | 438€ -12.7% | 502€ |
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.