x
  • Country ranking ?

    491
  • Producer ranking ?

    34
  • Decanting time

    4h
  • When to drink

    from 2020
  • Food Pairing

    Pressed guinea fowl with young 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.

Close

The 2011 Vintage / 2011 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion Dark red colour. Le Clarence has delicate black fruit aromas with smoky overtones eminently characteristic of the wines of Haut-Brion. The large percentage of Merlot makes this wine very unctuous and delicate on the palate from the onset, evolving softly towards a very rich tannic structure. The black cherry finish tightens up the flavour profile and features a slight, very refreshing bitterness.

71.5% Merlot 4.5% Cabernet Franc 22.8% Cabernet Sauvignon 1.2% Petit Verdot / Harvest from August 31 through September 27.

2011 Château Haut-Brion
Beautiful deep red colour. Intense nose of very ripe black fruit with hints of cocoa beans. With aeration, complex, smoky, liquorice aromas so typical of Haut-Brion leap out of the glass. The first impression on the palate is very elegant. The wine then quickly builds up power, but not at the expense of smoothness, with rich tannin that blossoms into a beautiful long aftertaste with a great deal of flavour.

34.8% Merlot 18.9% Cabernet Franc 46.3% Cabernet Sauvignon / Harvest from August 31 through September 27.


White wines

2011 La Clarté de Haut-Brion blanc

Beautiful straw-yellow colour. Very attractive, intense nose with hints of quince and pear. Starts out very flavoursome, and then becomes somewhat tighter with a salty, mineral taste. La Clarté is already enjoyable and balanced.

22% Sauvignon 78% Sémillon / Harvest from August 18 through September 1.

2011 Château Haut-Brion blanc
Beautiful yellow colour with green highlights Intense fruity nose, especially white peach and apricot. Subtle truffle nuances come to the fore with aeration. Starts out very broad and opulent on the palate. Full-bodied and superbly balanced, powerful, and long.

42.1% Sauvignon 57.9% Sémillon / Harvest from August 18 through 30 .

 

Close

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.

 

 

Close

Wine Information

The weather and its consequences

One of the characteristics of 2011 was an extremely dry spring. Based on the measured rainfall in April, May and June this was the driest spring since 1949.The experienced wine lover may say that since the vine must suffer, this lack of water was a positive development. Indeed, it would have been had not two days of intense heat (June 26 and 27) arrived at the end of spring.Because of this, the circulation system in the wooden parts of the vine was partially or totally damaged by dehydration. In several places, the circulation of sap was slowed down, and in some places stopped.

Even if flowering occurred nearly a month in advance, we began harvesting on almost the same dates as in 2010. Therefore, the vine had an extra month between June and the start of picking to produce optimal maturity. Happily, summer brought some rain which allowed the vine to continue its growth. August was much cooler, with even more rain than usual. With a dry September, we were able to harvest in optimal conditions. As for the white grapes in our Pessac vineyards, the dry conditions ended up hurting the Semillon more than the Sauvignon Blanc. Among the red grapes, the arid spring had little impact on the Merlot; the Cabernets were more sensitive to the dry spell but ultimately, the Cabernet Sauvignons suffered the most. During harvest it was not rare to see green, pink, red, or even shriveled grapes on the same vine.

We decided, as we did in the past, to proceed with a severe green harvest for the Merlot, as well as for the Cabernet Franc. By contrast, for Cabernet Sauvignon we opted for a “touching up” of the vines: cutting away only the very late-ripening bunches, favoring quality over quantity.  Regarding yields, here too, Merlot successfully stood up to the year’s very demanding weather; the Cabernets - in particular Cabernet Sauvignon - produced yields that were among the lowest ever seen at our estates.

 

Harvests, vinifications and assemblages

Faced with such spring weather, the vineyard responded in a surprising way: there was great disparity among vine varietals, and even within a single strain , depending on the soil and rootstock; more surprising still, this variation could be found among grapes on the same bunch...

After analyzing the situation, our growers and our wine makers had to revise their methods to get the best from this vintage. An initial selection was done during hand harvesting. This was the longest picking ever done at the property: harvesters spent an extra-ordinary amount of time with each vine to gather only perfectly ripe grapes. Still, despite their best efforts, some inferior grapes made it to the next stage.

The second selection, at the doors of the vat house proved extremely useful, even essential. 

At Château Quintus as at Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion, the grapes were placed on sorting tables to manually remove unwanted elements. But here again, despite the greatest care, there was always the possibility of human fallibility and so a third, more exacting selection was necessary.Thus, at Château Quintus an “air knife” sorting machine was used after desteming to blow away anything that was not perfectly round in shape.

At Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion optical sorting machines have been used for the past three years, and these sort not only by shape but also by color.It is estimated that these successive sortings in the vineyard and at the vat house resulted in a loss of around 5 to 10% of the harvest.

But thanks to this process, the oenologist was able to work with homogenous grapes. After a vinification adapted to the quality of the grapes (which entailed shorter macerations than usual) it was time to make the assemblages.

In 2011, as always, the challenge is to create the most harmonious blend possible, with a tannic structure which is evident but does not overwhelm the wine.

 

We needed more than a month of almost daily tastings, before we found the best blends. Once again, to achieve the desired balance and harmony strict decisions were necessary; this led to a selection of less than 45% of the total harvest for the first wines at Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion, and only 30% at Château Quintus.

For the past few years we have continually worked to reduce the vine’s vigor, and thus its yield, but we have also made ever stricter selections from harvest to the final assemblage. All of this with just one concern in mind: quality.

There are some who might argue that châteaux are producing only half as much first wine as they did 20 years ago; this is certainly true for us. However one thing is also certain: in the past ten years our properties have never produced such high-quality vintages!

Close

Vintage 2011

The 2011 vintage is not easy to handle.

Smith Haut Lafitte not only makes great white and red wine from Bordeaux in Pessac Léognan, they are also at the cutting edge of technology. They were one of the first Bordeaux wine producers to begin using optical sorting, which came in handy with the difficult 2011 Bordeaux harvest. Fabien Teitgen, long-time general manager, joined us for a long detailed conversation about what happened at Smith Haut Lafitte for the 2011 Bordeaux vintage.

“In my opinion, 2011 is balanced with a low pH and a medium alcohol level. So for those who picked at the right time, their wines will be balanced, with good concentration and good freshness. This vintage is not so easy to handle. »

 

Château Cos d’Estournel, Saint-Estèphe, began its 2011 Bordeaux harvest on Monday, September 5.

Jean Guillaume Prats told us that 2011 set a modern record for an early start to their harvest at Château Cos d’Estournel. He added: “It was the second earliest harvest on record. To find an earlier date, we had to go back to 1893! » Although the precise date to begin picking was not set in stone, the original plan was not to begin their Bordeaux harvest on September 5. But due to a ferocious storm that swept through the region, the massive 2011 Bordeaux storm hit the northern Médoc, any hope of waiting has gone out the window. “We had initially planned to start around September 9, with the young vines. After the storm, we gave ourselves time over the weekend to assess the situation and make the appropriate decision: wait and see how it will evolve in the coming days depending on the weather. We are “lucky” that this vintage is extremely early. The damage in terms of phenolic maturity of the grapes should be very minor. If it was a later year, like 2008, 2009 or 2010, the effects would be much worse.

" said Prats

 

The day starts before sunrise

Château Haut Brion and Château La Mission Haut Brion began harvesting their young Merlot vines on August 29. It’s early for the First Growth domain. To give you an idea of when Haut Brion started picking its young Merlot vines in 2010, September 8. In this vintage, the harvest continued until October 9.

Between the two properties of Pessac Léognan, with red and white grapes to pick, they have a busy schedule. Harvesters begin their day working on the grapes for their Bordeaux white wine, often starting their day before sunrise.

Jean-Philippe Delmas explains why they harvest early in the morning: “The goal of picking white grapes early in the morning is to ensure that the fruit stays fresh. This helps the berries retain their unique, fresh flavors. This year, we picked our white grapes between 7 a.m. and noon. The reason is that at this time of the day, the skin is dry. There is nothing left of the dew of the night. »

Château Lafite Rothschild began harvesting Cabernet Sauvignon from their northernmost plots, located not far from Château Cos d’Estournel, on Friday September 2. 2011. This is one of the first harvests recorded for the property. You will read quotes from many Bordeaux wine producers that 2011 Bordeaux, for many châteaux, will be their earliest harvest on record since 1893! However, producers located in certain districts of Bordeaux have brought forward their harvest calendars even earlier than expected.

Due to the enormous deluge and rain in the northern Médoc, centered near the border of Pauillac, Saint-Estèphe, to avoid possible rot problems, many châteaux in this vicinity decided to start picking sooner than they had originally planned. The most notable property is the famous Premier Cru, Château Lafite Rothschild. It is possible that the storm, which dropped half an inch of massive rain in a twenty-minute period, caused flooding in Lafite Rothschild's cellars.

“With our 2011 harvest, we harvested earlier because the cultivation of the vines was earlier than usual, due to the very hot spring. But the ripening weather conditions in summer were cool and cool, so the wine is of a cooler style than a late vintage. The pleasant weather conditions at the end of August and September were very good for phenolic maturity.” Fabien Teitgen from Château Smith Haut Lafitte.

Bordeaux 2011 /The earliest harvest recorded since 1893

 

Close

Tasting note

Be the first one to make a 20s tasting note!

Written Notes

Tasted blind as a vintage comparison at the Valandraud vertical, the 2011 Haut Brion has always been an excellent Pessac-Léognan, though recent encounters suggest it does not have the potential of the 2012. It has a gentle and caressing bouquet full of copious dark cherry and raspberry fruit, a touch of saddle leather and a seam of dark chocolate emanating from the oak regime, which needs more time to integrate (though it is not an Haut-Brion that is going to demand years and years in bottle). The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and feels gentle in the mouth. It is very well balanced, although perhaps the oak comes through too strongly on the finish, when frankly there is no need. Nevertheless, this is a classic Pessac-Léognan - maybe "mild mannered" and a little conservative compared to more ambitious recent vintages, yet there is no doubting its class and pedigree. Tasted December 2016.

  • 94p

Deep colour. Intense plummy/ black cherry aromas with some vanilla/ malty notes. Richly textured and beautifully concentrated wine with deep set plummy/ black cherry: dark chocolate/ inky flavours, fine grained/ sinewy tannins. Finishes very firm and tight but plenty of flavour length. 93-95 points,

  • 95p
Tasted twice - last time in September 2014. Not consistent notes. It was more tannic and stronger than La Mission Haut Brion. A bit backward.
  • 95p
From a blend of 46.3% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34.8% Merlot and 18.9% Cabernet Franc, the wine reached13.3% alcohol. With a beautiful ruby hue, the wine offers espresso, burnt earth, boysenberry, floral, cassis and truffle. This polished, classic, fresh, sweet, ripe, cassis loaded wine has the tannins to age and will require time. 94-95 Pts
  • 94p
Load more notes

Information

Origin

Pessac-Leognan, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Above Average

Value For Money

Good

Investment potential

Below Average

Fake factory

None

Glass time

3h

Other wines from this producer

Château Haut-Brion Blanc

La Clarté de Haut-Brion

Le Clarence de Haut-Brion

Plantiers de Haut-Brion

Inside Information

96 points James Suckling

  Lots of subtle redcurrant and berry character, with flowers and sweet tobacco on the nose. Full body, super-integrated tannins and a light shaved-chocolate, berry and cedar character. A decadence and beauty to this that wakes you up. Better in 2018.   (1/ 2014)

94-96 points Wine Enthusiast

  An impressively silky wine. Dry yet intensely fruity, the palate shows big fruit, smooth tannins and a perfumed character.   (4/ 2012)

95 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  The unbelievably superb 2011 Haut-Brion (a tiny production of 7,600 cases from a blend of 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 19% Cabernet Franc) exhibits a classic nose of subtle smoldering embers, warm rocks, black currants, new saddle leather, spice box and high quality, unsmoked cigar tobacco. The color is a dense ruby/purple to the edge, and the wine cuts a serious as well as broad swath across the palate. The most amazing aspect of this terroir is that the wine, despite all its power and richness, literally dances on the palate, as if it were a 90 pound ballerina. This brilliant 2011 should evolve quickly, hitting its prime in 7-8 years, and drink beautifully for 20-25 years. (RP)   (4/ 2014)

95 points Wine Spectator

  This packs some serious density for the vintage, with layers of braised fig, blackberry pâte de fruit and dark currant paste, all inlaid with lively briar, tobacco leaf and roasted apple wood notes. Shows lots of energy through the finish, with the grip generating a mouthwatering feel. One of the stars of the vintage. Best from 2018 through 2035.   (3/ 2014)

92-94 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

  Dark ruby-red. Big, rich and creamy on entry, then tighter and a bit austere in the middle, showing pure cassis, red berry and mineral flavors that carry through nicely on the rising finish. Very fine-grained Haut-Brion with a lingering cocoa nuance. Technical director Masclef noted that the team did shorter cuvaisons of about 15 days, vs. a typical 21, and at slightly lower temperatures too. I think the high-quality cabernet franc here has helped this wine gain a measure of refinement that is not always there in vintages with higher proportions of merlot. Another potentially great Haut Brion, more austere and less fleshy than recent efforts but very classic.   (5/ 2012)

Jancis Robinson

  Deep black cherry colour. Warm sweet cherry fruit, with the most chocolate-smooth (and in no way thick) tannins but also the acidity of fresh fruit too, fresh cherry. Very fine, intense and aromatic red fruit with just a touch of graphite. There's density and richness on the middle but such amazing softness though the tannins give tension underneath like closely packed bed springs. Like falling into a deep feather cover on a firm bed. So long. 18.5/20 points. Drink 2020-2040.   (4/ 2012)

Read more
Incorrect Information
If you found some information that is wrong, let us know
Are you sure you want do delete this wine? All information will be lost.
Are you sure you want to recommend this wine?
Are you sure you want hide this written note ?
Are you sure you want show this written note ?
UPGRADE MEMBER PLAN
Upgrade your membership now, it's quick and easy. We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards. Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal. You can cancel your membership at any time.
Thank you for your support!
 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

 

HOW TO USE TASTINGBOOK?

We recommend you to share few minutes for watching the following video instructions of how to use the Tastingbook. This can provide you a comprehensive understanding of all the features you can find from this unique service platform.

This video will help you get started



Taste wines with the Tastingbook


Create Your wine cellar on 'My Wines'



Explore Your tasted wines library



Administrate Your wine world in Your Profile



Type a message ...
Register to Tastingbook
Sign up now, it's quick and easy.
We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards.
Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal, where you can sign up for a free 7-day trial period. You can cancel your membership at any time. We wish you a rewarding journey to the world of Fine Wines.

Free 7 days Member trial

 

Member

 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

  Register