Tasting Notes and Scores
As for the 2012 La Mission Haut Brion, this wine (41% of the total production) continues to perform as it has for nearly a century. At first-growth levels of quality, this is s stunning wine that is full-bodied and very concentrated with notes of graphite, subtle charcoal embers, crème de cassis, blackberry and underlying subtle earthiness. The wine is full and powerful, rich and concentrated. And sure enough, the alcohol level tips the scales at 15% from a blend 62% Merlot and 38% Cabernet Franc. This is a big, blockbuster La Mission Haut Brion that should age effortlessly for 30-40+ years. However, the tannins suggest that this wine should not be touched for another 5-6 years, as its one of the more backward of the 2012 Pessac-Léognans. Bravo!
97 points – Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #218, Apr 2015)
The 2012 La Mission Haut-Brion, which represents 41% of the total production, is a blend of 62% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Lots of tobacco leaf, forest floor, underbrush and red as well as black fruit aromas jump from this aromatic, seductive, open-knit La Mission. Medium to full-bodied, round, generous, lush and flattering to taste, even at this young age, it is built along the stylistic lines of the 2001 or 1999. Drink it over the next 15-20 years.
91-94 points – Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #206, Apr 2013)
Wine Advocate
Continuing to show brilliantly, the 2012 La Mission Haut-Brion is a quintessential Graves, boasting a deep purple color as well as heavenly aromatics of blackcurrants, tobacco, scorched earth, graphite, and licorice. It’s a big, full-bodied beauty yet has a weightless, elegant style, building tannins, and a great finish. It needs a solid hour in a decanter if drinking today and promises to evolve beautifully for another 3-4 decades.
Jeb Dunnuck
Quality 961 | Brand 989 | Economics 914 |
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 33 of the world's top wine lists, including The River Café at Brooklyn
Economics: Above its peer group average price of £48 for the 2012 vintage
Production: Lower production than its peer group average of 92,455 bottles
- www.wine-lister.com June 2017
Wine Lister
One of the clear wines of the vintage, the 2012 La Mission Haut-Brion shows off a vertical sense of structure along with imposing tannins and serious depth. The flavors are dark, bold and extremely vivid. Dark red cherry, smoke, grilled herbs, graphite and blackberry jam are some of the many notes that come alive on the finish. This brooding La Mission needs a few years to settle down after which it will offer spectacular drinking for several decades. In a word: magnificent!
Antonio Galloni
Tasted blind at the Southwold 2012 tasting, the 2012 La Mission Haut-Brion showed brilliantly. It has an intense, floral bouquet with rose petals and strawberry preserve, hints of sous-bois and tobacco gently unfolding in the glass, gaining more earthiness as it aerates in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, broad and spicy with hints of bell pepper suggesting high quality Cabernet Franc. It fans out gloriously with a sustained tertiary finish that completes what is a wondrous La Mission Haut-Brion from Jean-Philippe Delmas and his team. Tasted January 2016. - October 2016, The Wine Advocate #227, robertparker.com
Neal Martin
Gorgeous aromas of stones, currants and blueberries. Very aromatic. Mesmerizing. Full body, silky tannins and a long finish. Dense and rich. Layered. Earth and bark character. Lots of structure for the vintage. Better in 2019.
James Suckling
(62% Merlot/38% Cabernet Sauvignon)
Tight but perfumed, aromatic nose. Intense, plum and cherry, violet characters. Some vibrancy along with the Pessac density. Solid, spicy mid palate. Nice finish. Very good indeed.
Bordeaux Index
[62M/38CS] Very fat/ripe blackberry and blueberry Merlot character to smell; rich, elegant, complete wine; dense, firmly but finely tannic with plenty of matter and a vital acidity; long and complex to taste, ripe fruit, freshness, minerality; great tenacity of flavour and fine aromatic length too. Powerful, but not coarse or hard, if slightly warm to finish. Lovely. 2024-35 [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2013]
Michael Schuster
The rigid tar and bramble frame should eventually meld with the core of plum, blackberry and macerated black currant fruit, featuring ample energy and a graphite note through the finish. Just a little bit of patience required here. JM
Wine Spectator
62% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon. Aromatic and a little lean but very sophisticated. Lots of energy here. Extremely ramrod straight with lots of fine tannin. A very long-term wine. Super demanding with its heavy charge of tannins. Still quite inky and ambitious in the extreme. One of the more youthful wines of the vintage. At the moment just a little stringy. Neat and certainly no blockbuster. 14.95% Drink 2023-2040.
Jancis Robinson
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