Tasting Notes and Scores
The 2012 Haut Brion (65% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc) is certainly one of the candidates for the wine of the vintage, with a dense purple color, classic nose of crushed rock, lead pencil shavings, black raspberry, blueberry and flowers. The wine shows subtle barbecue smoke notes in the background, but is full-bodied, stunningly concentrated and builds incrementally, yet finishes with luxurious, almost extravagant amounts of fruit and intensity. From only 46% of the production, this is an absolutely remarkable effort from the Dillon family and their winemaking team of the two Jean-Philippes. Drink it over the next 30-40 years.
– Robert Parker, RobertParker.com, Mar 2015
Wine Advocate
Quality 971 | Brand 998 | Economics 945 |
buzz brand, investment staple
Quality: Predicted life of 18 years, one of the longest drinking windows in its peer group for the 2012 vintage, which averages 13 years
Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 50 of the world's top wine lists, including Chez Bruce
Economics: More traded at auction than its peers, its top 5 vintages having seen 3,255 75cl equivalent bottles traded in the past year
Production: Higher production than its peer group average of 92,455 bottles
- www.wine-lister.com June 2017
Wine Lister
Tasted blind at the Southwold 2012 tasting, the 2012 Haut-Brion has an open and generous bouquet with blackcurrant pastille, cassis and briary aromas the exude very pure Merlot. The palate is medium-bodied with a sumptuous opening that is rare in 2012: rounded and generous, caressing in the mouth with black plum and blackcurrant towards the finish, residues of truffle and white pepper lingering on the aftertaste that turn very savory after 15 minutes—bacon fat or Italian cured meats. There is a lot to love about this Haut-Brion although in this blind showing I scored it the same as La Mission Haut-Brion. Who will stick their neck out as the two wines mature? Tasted January 2016.
– eRobertParker.com, Oct 2016
Neal Martin
Amazing aromas of wet stones, earth, currants and berries. Subtle and complex. Full body and a beautiful core of ripe fruit on the palate and the finish. Round, light, chewy tannins. Needs at least four or five years to open. This is the most merlot ever in Haut-Brion. Rich too. One of the wines of the vintage. 65.5% merlot, 32.5% cabernet sauvignon and 25 cabernet franc. Better in 2020.
James Suckling
(65.5% Merlot/32.5% Cabernet Sauvignon/2% Cabernet Franc)
Tight but brooding nose with mocha, baked plum and blackcurrant. A bright, lifted white flower note as well. Initial hit is tender, sweet fruit of great density but with a playful, flirty character. Highly polished, extremely classy, good mid palate and finish. Can’t believe it’s 14+% alcohol.
Bordeaux Index
[65.5M/32.5CS/2CF] Rich to smell - ripe and mineral; rich and vigorous, ample and firmly, finely tannic, a balance of power, matter and sinew, but finesse too, an Haut Brion with an abundance of fruit and frame; to taste there is a marked minerality behind the very ripe fruit, a wine that is very long across the palate, with a flattering generosity allied to the clear complexity, and with a very long, warm finish, the only place where you do notice the 15% alcohol. A very grand Haut Brion, atypical in its proportions, level of alcohol, and very high proportion of two thirds Merlot, but no doubt this is an impressively complete wine …. if not Haut Brion as we (mostly) know it! Will its power make it a bit of a bruiser when mature ? Who knows. 2020-40+ [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2013]
Michael Schuster
Plush for the vintage, with a lovely, caressing feel and lots of steeped plum, anise and blackberry fruit. Displays a lacing of tar through the finish, revealing a graceful tug of earth. Tasted non-blind. —J.M.
Wine Spectator
65.5% Merlot, 32.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc. Much less aromatic than La Mission. Dense and dark. Rich and sumptuous. Some spiciness. Very broad and rich. Very grand. And easy to see where it comes from and how it will proceed. Very pure. Much more forward than La Mission. Zesty but with grandeur and great persistence. Drink 2022-2045
Jancis Robinson
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