Chateau Haut-Brion Premier Cru Classe, Pessac-Leognan 2000

Is this as good as the 1989? Certainly it is lush and powerful, lingering and expanding in the mouth with sweet tobacco and cigar box notes, along with still young blackcurrant and blackberry fruits, all given lift by the trademark Haut-Brion aromatics. It beds in and shakes off early reticence after a good hour in the glass, suggesting that this is only just leaving its primary phase and has many decades left ahead of it. A great wine that highlights the success of Haut-Brion under the partnership of estate director Jean-Bernard Delmas, father of current director Jean-Philippe Delmas, and owner Joan Dillon the Duchess of Mouchy (president of the company until 2008 before handing over to her son Prince Robert of Luxembourg). A supremely confident wine that is hard to fault in its depth of expression.

Blackcurrants, mint, leafy tobacco, cassis, damp earth, and graphite all emerge from the 2000 Château Haut-Brion, a different beast compared to the La Mission and a more regal, structured, statuesque wine. It's incredibly pure and graceful on the palate, with flawless balance and a quintessential, full-bodied, powerful, and almost inward character. It's clearly in its prime drinking window yet is probably 4-5 years away from full maturity, and it's going to continue offering pleasure for another 50+ years. Drink 2026-2076.

Its bigger sister, the 2000 Haut-Brion a blend of 51% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc) showed incredibly at the tasting, and for me is one of the three or four most prodigious wines of the vintage. A compelling nose of roasted herbs, scorched earth, sweet blueberries, plums, black currants, and a hint of graphite is followed by a deep, layered, sumptuously textured, full-bodied Haut-Brion, but one with extraordinary complexity. This wine seems more evolved and approachable than I had expected it to be at age 10.

Haut-Brion can be among the trickiest Bordeaux to taste young, often needing a full decade before the extraordinary complexity that marks this terroir begins to emerge. I was thrilled to see how well both the second wine, Bahans Haut-Brion, and Haut-Brion performed in this tasting, and both scores are slight upgrades.

The 2000 Haut-Brion has the upper hand over La Mission at the moment, and I don't see that changing. It's always been one of my favourite wines of the vintage. Blackberry and black olive, copious incense and terracotta notes almost hypnotize the senses. The palate is supremely well-balanced with finely sculpted tannins that frame the black fruit laced with white pepper and graphite. It's just entering its drinking window but has the substance to last many years. Tasted at the château.

This 2000 starts with aromas of citrus fruit, currants, flowers, and fresh mushrooms. The palates leads off full and rich, with round tannins and a dusty texture. Plenty of fruit and sliced mushrooms on the palate, but it is still tight. Pull the cork after 2010. Find the wine

Deep ruby-red. Expressive nose combines black raspberry, chocolate, coffee, tobacco and minerals. Lush, thick and stuffed with smoky fruit, with superb vinosity contributing to the impression of firmness and structure. Here's a second wine that will need a good five years of bottle aging to approach its plane of peak drinkability. I underrated this wine a year ago.