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| Region: |
Pessac Leognan, Bordeaux, France |
| Varietal: |
Cabernet Sauvignon / Cabernet Franc / Merlot / Petit Verdot |
| Classification: |
Cru Classé de Graves
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| Importer: |
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| Score: |
100WA |
| Review: |
"The 2020 La Mission Haut-Brion is a brilliant effort that exhibits a level of balance and integration that are impressive in such a powerful young Bordeaux. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with burning embers, pencil shavings, violets and smoked black tea, it's full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a layered, elegantly muscular profile, its brooding core of fruit framed by a generous endowment of powdery tannin that tempers the ripeness of the vintage. Checking in at 14.7% alcohol, it's nonetheless more classically styled than the more flamboyant 2019 vintage or even the slowly maturing 2010 which I re-tasted alongside for context. ‘First, we had to manage with the very humid spring—we had to fight against mildew,’ Deputy Managing Director Jean-Philippe Delmas of Domaine Clarence Dillon informed me. ‘It was challenging. Regardless for whether you were using natural products or not. So, yields were already lower than in 2019. Then we had almost two months without a drop of water—mid-June to mid-August. We decided for the first time not to do the leaf thinning. It was not so much because of the heat, but it was SO dry. Not so many bunches were dropped in July. This year there was less intervention in the vineyards. When you intervene, you modify the profile of the wines. We started to harvest the whites very early. What is rare this year is that we finished the whites in August. It was a very early year for the whites. For the reds, the maceration was a bit shorter. We used more Cabernet Franc for all the grand vins. This was definitely a Cabernet Franc year! For La Mission Haut-Brion and Haut-Brion, the proportion reflects exactly the proportion we have in the fields.’" |
Staff Notes:
"Composed of 48.6% Merlot, 43.2% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8.2% Cabernet Franc, harvested from 7th to 29th September, the 2020 La Mission Haut-Brion has an alcohol of 14.7%. It needs considerable swirling and coaxing to reveal slowly emerging scents of freshly crushed blackcurrants, Morello cherries, wild blueberries and forest floor, leading to suggestions of violets, baker's chocolate and cardamom with wafts of dusty soil and oolong tea. The medium to full-bodied palate bursts with impactful, fresh red, black and blue fruit layers, supported by impressive freshness and fantastically ripe, fine-grained tannins, finishing very long and fragrant. A stunning expression of this vintage!" 97-99 Points Lisa-Perrotti Brown, The Wine Advocate
99-100 Points James Suckling
97-99 Points Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
97-99 Points Neal Martin, Vinous
98 Points Jane Anson, Decanter
Bordeaux Future: Earliest Anticipated Arrival, Fall 2023.]
* The pricing above includes neither currently enforced European wine tariffs nor any new European wine tariffs that may go into effect in future. The purchaser is responsible for paying all supplemental tariffs that remain in effect upon the arrival of and prior to the receipt of the wines.