Aromas of blackcurrants and blueberries. Lots of stones, too. Full-bodied and chewy with plenty of crushed cement. Chewy finish. Medium at the end. Drink after 2027.

Leading off the reds, the 2020 Le Clarence De Haut-Brion is a darker, more structured version of this cuvée that has lots of ripe blackcurrant fruit, notes of scorched earth, tobacco, cedar, and lead pencil, medium to full body, ripe tannins, and a great finish. With its brilliant Graves character, this is a second wine that deserves 4-5 years of bottle age and will evolve for two decades.

Flowers, cherry pipe tobacco, and wild cherries, and cigar wrapper nuances create the nose. On the palate, the wine is powerful, rich, and long with layers of lush, plush, opulent fruits. There is a touch of heat, but with so much fruit, the heat is lost in all those ripe, and very ripe red fruits. 15% ABV. Drink from 2025-2040.

The 2020 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion has a very finely delineated, concentrated and generous bouquet with layers of red and black fruit, pressed violets and cedar. The palate is medium-bodied with silky tannins, very poised and pure, with an almost Burgundian allure toward the finish. This should age beautifully in bottle. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. January 2024.

Dark fruits on the nose, plum and blackcurrant with a gentle fragrance. Nice body and weight in the mouth, round and juicy, plump and alive with lovely energy and focus. Tannins are fine and do well to give quite a wide frame while the fruit stays in the centre. Lovely lingering fruit and spiced flavours on the mid-palate, this is long and really keeps the intensity from start to finish with a menthol, aerated aspect. Feels extremely well made, not pushed too hard, everything in balance. Juicy, supple, crunchy even with a hint of silky creaminess at the back. Not massively layered but packing a punch in terms of flavour and purity. 1.5% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Drinking Window: 2026 - 2040
Tasted by: Georgina Hindle (at Pomerol, 02 Jan 2023)

(60% M, 32% CS, 8% CF; 15.2% ABV)
Ripe blackberry Merlot to smell; full, moderately concentrated, firmly but finely tannic; a refined and relatively delicate core of fruit here, sweet and fresh, with the alcohol presence distracting a bit from its finesse, but behind that, this is long and graceful, with excellent sweet fruit persistence. The somewhat “dryhard” tannin texture distracts a bit, which it would not do at 13.5% ABV, for example. A refined, freshly sweet, graceful wine, successful in the style, if not so obviously Pessac-Léognan in origin any more. 2028–38+.

The 2020 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion exhibits attractive aromas of dark berries, rose petals, cigar wrapper and burning embers, followed by a medium to full-bodied, fleshy and layered palate that's rich, seamless and enveloping, with an open, expressive profile and a long, subtly kirsch-inflected finish. April 2023.

The 2020 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion is a jewel of a wine. Deep, powerful and structured, it captures all of the gravitas of the Grand Vin, but in a more accessible style. Gravel, leather, tobacco, cedar and dried herbs lend quite a bit of aromatic nuance to this powerhouse Pessac-Léognan. I very much like the intensity and drive here. May 2021.

Full, distinctive, embossed bottle 1,305 g. Cask sample taken 12 April. 60.1% Merlot, 31.7% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6.7% Cabernet Franc, 1.5% Petit Verdot. Estimated alcohol: 15.2%. Picked from 7 to 29 September
Mid purplish crimson. Rather simple, or at least uncommunicative, on the nose at present, though there is a beguiling combination of ripe fruit and stoniness (warm bricks?) on the palate which has impressive concentration. Comparing it with other celebrated Pessac-Léognans of the same vintage, it is clear that this has some magic dust – as it should considering how much more expensive it is. Lots of leathery tannin underneath but it is the integrity of the fruit that is so impressive.