With roughly 8,333 cases produced, the 2023 Château Haut-Brion has sensational aromatics of blackcurrants, scorched earth, graphite, and the classic cold fireplace-driven nuances that define this magical estate. It's medium to full-bodied and concentrated on the palate, with ultra-fine yet building tannins, a deep, layered mouthfeel, and a great finish. This brilliant Haut-Brion deserves a solid decade of bottle age and will cruise for 40+ years in cold cellars. Drink 2035-2075.

This is tight, yet so upright and proper, with a vertical line of fine tannin that runs true and deep. It’s medium- to full-bodied with an exquisite texture and a long, structured finish. 52.3% merlot, 38.6% cabernet sauvignon and 9.1% cabernet franc.

Less immediately approachable than La Mission Haut-Brion, the 2023 Haut-Brion stands among the most powerful and profound wines in the range, revealing aromas of cassis, spices, lead pencil, gentian and dark berries. Medium- to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it is fleshy yet seamless, endowed with remarkable energy and persistence. In this vintage, the terroir asserts itself with uncommon clarity, resulting in a Haut-Brion that is both racy and precise.
  

This is an exceptional Haut-Brion, offering juice and elegant balance alongside classically structured layers, generous but restrained, sense of architecture and building blocks of a truly great Left Bank wine. Rippling with sinewy muscles, juicy and controlled, packed with cocoa bean, espresso, liouqorice root, but none of these flavours dominate, knitted together, with a vertical lift. 100% new oak, Jean-Philippe Delmas director, Jean-Philippe Masclef technical director, no outside consultant.

A stand out wine from Haut-Brion this year and one of the most charming Primeur samples from the estate. A little sombre on the nose, quiet with dark fruit, blackcurrant and brambles. Not so open on the nose, but this wows on the palate - rich, dense for the vintage, weighty in the mouth, clearly ripe and so filling. Chewy and alive, this is brilliant with a buzz of acidity, a sharp, sour, tartness but all so excellently delivered. So charming and so cuddly, this wine wants you to adore it. Bright and voluptuous, and not many can say that in this vintage. Really so great and still with chocolate, mint, pepper, raspberries, and floral notes all the way through. A complete knock out because it has flesh, juice, brightness and style. 3.7ph 4.3 acidity 80 IPT - second highest year after 2010 for the concentration. 42% grand vin production. A potential 100-point wine.

The 2023 La Conseillante is very clearly one of the standouts of the year. Plush contours wrap around a core of blueberry fruit as lavender, cloves, chocolate and licorice weave across the palate. The purity here is just remarkable, especially in the bouquet. Seamless in the glass, the 2023 impresses with its understated intensity and svelte personality. It is one of the most outstanding wines of the year. An archetype. In short, the 2023 is très Conseillante. If anything, I may be underestimating it. Tasted two times.

A serious and supple Haut Brion, this opens with a hum of gravel and graphite. A little coaxing brings crushed violets and liquorice root too. The texture on the palate is extraordinary - chewy, firm, sinewy, and real saline grip to the tannin here. Brooding and intense there is a vertical structure to the wine, all the while clothed in cassis and black cherry fruit. This edges on the side of mineral for the moment with subtle ember notes on the end. Athletic and sinewy this really builds on the palate - it will be an extraordinary Haut Brion in the decades to come. Robert Mathias MW, Bordeaux Index.

The 2023 Haut-Brion exhibits a more Cabernet-inflected personality than the richer 2022, offering up a deep but youthfully reserved bouquet of dark wild berries, licorice, smoke and pencil lead mingled with notions of cigar wrapper, nicely integrated new oak and spices. Full-bodied, deep and velvety, it’s layered and concentrated, with a deep core of fruit structured around abundant but velvety tannins, concluding with a long, controlled finish. Somewhat reminiscent of the estate's successful 2006, it's a blend of 52.3% Merlot, 38.6% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9.1% Cabernet Franc.

The 2023 Haut-Brion was picked at the same time as the La Mission Haut-Brion albeit the secateurs sheathed one day later on October 6. The nose is less immediate than the La Mission and the fruit is a little darker: blackcurrant juniper hints of black olive and a light cedar scent. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grip and tension. This has superb energy presenting a crescendo of flavors toward a complex and persistent finish that lingers in the mouth. There is real pedigree to this First Growth and it will certainly give 30 to 40 years of drinking pleasure.- By Neal Martin on April 2024

52.3% Merlot, 38.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9.1% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample. Seems to have more intensity than La Mission. Deep, floral and fresh. Very fine tannins with that plush, velvety texture only Haut-Brion can do. Builds on the palate to a persistent finish so there’s a certain power as well. Stony-fresh finish. (JL)