An excellent Haut-Marbuzet with blackberry and currant character, but more importantly a solid core of fruit and chewy tannins that are polished and gorgeous. It’s all here now, ready for wonderful development in barrel.

Tasted by Jane Anson(at Primeur week tastings in Bordeaux, 01 May 2021)
Part of Best St-Estephe 2020 wines tasted en primeur

Juicy, well-defined black fruits, a ton of character, well-balanced and loaded with graphite, wet stones, hawthorn, blackberry, earth - this is a really enjoyable wine, a good success in the vintage, and will age. 5% Petit Verdot completes the blend; IPT81. Harvest September 11 to 29. A yield of 30hl/ha. A pick for me in St-Estèphe. 100% new oak.

Drinking Window 2024 - 2040

The 2020 Haut-Marbuzet has a more attractive bouquet than the previous two vintage, featuring perfumed black currant, wild hedgerow, blueberry and a touch of India ink – the kind of aromatics that I associate with this property. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and a fine bead of acidity. Very pure and velvety-smooth toward the finish. This is the best wine I have tasted from Haut-Marbuzet in several years.
-vinous.com

The 2020 Haut-Marbuzet is showing very well in bottle, offering up aromas of blackberries and plum preserve mingled with hints of pencil shaving, rose petal, licorice and lilac. Medium to full-bodied, it's rich and fleshy, its broad attack segueing into an enveloping mid-palate framed by powdery, youthfully firm tannins, concluding with a nicely defined finish. It can't quite match the energy and elegance of 2019, but it's a terrific effort that could embarrass plenty of classified growths.

Dark in color, the wine offers notes of coffee bean, cherries, smoke, spice and peppery herbs. Medium/full-bodied, with a strong oak presence that accompanies the round textures and all the herbs, spices and fruits. The wine ends with a savory character on top of the espresso tinged finish. The oak is still quite present, so give it time to come around. If it integrates, this will be a better wine. 91-93

A little gem of a wine, the 2020 Château Haut-Marbuzet boasts a deep purple color as well as medium to full-bodied aromas and flavors of cassis, blackcurrants, tobacco, and damp earth. It’s ripe, rounded, and pure on the palate, with wonderful precision and freshness as well as silky tannins. It’s worth seeking out.

Drink Date
2023 - 2034

Reviewed by Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Medium to deep purple-black colored, the 2020 Haut-Marbuzet opens with exuberant scents of blackcurrant pastilles, wild blueberries and Bing cherries, plus hints of dried mint, chocolate box and bay leaves. The medium-bodied palate has lovely freshness and bright, crunchy black and red fruits with lightly chewy tannins and a quick finish.

Tasted blind. Deepest crimson. Perfumed dark fruit. Highly floral. Dry texture, dry and drying on the finish. Firm and desperately needs a bit more flesh in the middle. (JH)