2017 Haut Brion

The connoisseur's First Growth? Certainly one of the most elegant and longest lived wines of Bordeaux. Seriously tight and backwards. Just glimpses of minerality and black fruit. The palate is pure Haut Brion, stacked and loaded with stunning layers of juicy, creamy, rich, bright fruit and pure, utterly finessed minerality. The centre palate is plush but pretty and so well defined, the tannins so sweet-edged, the acidity so pure and integrated, that it gives the wine a sense of drive unlike any other Cabernet-based wine we have tasted. Texturally divine. No spitting. - April 2018

A blend of 53% Merlot, 6.3% Cabernet Franc and 40.7% Cabernet Sauvignon, the deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Haut-Brion sashays gracefully out of the glass with fragrant notions of black raspberries, kirsch, dark chocolate, star anise and candied violets with a core of warm red and black currants and a touch of pencil lead. Medium to full-bodied, the palate bursts with red and black fruit layers, superbly supported by firm, ripe, finely grained tannins and fantastic freshness, finishing very long and mineral laced. LPB

The 2017 Haut-Brion was bottled 10-18 June. It impressed from barrel and it continues to do so now incarcerated in glass. It has an irresistible bouquet with ebullient red berry fruit, sous-bois, graphite and oyster shell, perhaps one of the most Burgundy-like aromatics that I can recall in this First Growth. The palate is beautifully balanced with very fine tannins. There remains a little new oak to be fully assimilated, yet winemaker Jean-Philippe Delmas has managed to retain the symmetry that I observed from barrel a few months ago. Whilst not amongst the top tier Haut-Brion wines, it is a delicious and classy wine that will give three decades of drinking pleasure. www.vinous.com

This is extremely aromatic and perfumed with crushed-berry, flower, currant and orange-peel character. Full-bodied, very tight and focused with fabulous depth and density that brings you down through the wine. Deep and serious. Very classic wine that reminds me of top Haut-Brions of the mid-1980s.

Colour of black cherries with healthy crimson rim. Warm oak spice over cool dark fruit. Succulent, mouth-watering and so supple. There's a core of pure black fruit and an elegance in both non-sweet fruit and fine-boned structure but all with a discreet generosity. Needs time to meld but it's magnetic in its attraction. Perhaps a little less rich than La Mission but more intense and persistent at this stage. - Julia Harding, jancisrobinson.com, April 2018

The 2017 Haut-Brion is rich and virile, even in a vintage where it has less power than is the norm. My impression is that the 2017 is going to lie dormant for many years before it awakens, but its pedigree is quite obvious. Black cherry, plum, gravel, smoke, licorice and dark spice all burst out of the glass. The 2017 is a powerful, vertical Haut-Brion endowed with a real feeling of gravitas and somber intensity. The long, substantial finish suggests readers can look forward to many years of fine drinking.

Ripe tannins and volume in all the right places, this wine tempts with verve and depth of flavor, length and complexity and gets up close and personal with the tannins. And in my overeducated and sometimes pompous opinion, the wine is going to require a minimum of 12-15 years of aging before it becomes civilized enough to drink. A blend of 53% Merlot, 40.7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4.4% Cabernet Franc with a the harvest taking place August 31 to September 29, the wine reached 14.25% alcohol with a pH of 3.73 and represents 45% of the Grand Vin. Tasted April 2018

A more structured, straight, focused wine than the La Mission Haut-Brion, the 2017 Chateau Haut-Brion is based on a similar blend of 53% Merlot, 40.7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 6.3% Cabernet Franc brought up in 69% new French oak. Plenty of cassis and red currant fruits as well as notes of tobacco, Asian spices, cedar pencil, and violets all emerge from this medium-bodied, elegant, nicely textured, and concentrated Haut-Brion. It's very much in the classic, sleek style of the vintage and has good acidity, plenty of polished tannins, and a great finish, yet not a massive amount of flesh or baby fat. This classic effort needs 7-8 years of bottle age and will have 30+ years of longevity.