Tasting notes
Jeb Dunnuck · Jeb Dunnuck · 99
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.
Georgie Hindle · Decanter · 98
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.
Drink 2034 - 2060
James Suckling · James Suckling · 98-99
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.
Jane Anson · Decanter · 98-100
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.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW · Wine Advocate · 98-100
A blend of 52.3% Merlot, 38.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 9.1% Cabernet Franc, the 2023 Haut-Brion has a pH of 3.7 and a deep garnet-purple color. It is quite closed to begin, needing a lot of patient swirling to coax out notes of plum preserves, black cherry compote, and wild blueberries, leading to perfumed hints of peonies, crushed stones, rose bud tea, and licorice, with a touch of wood smoke. The medium to full- bodied palate delivers black and blue fruit layers that shimmy and swirl in the mouth with jaw-dropping energy, accented by mineral and exotic spice notes and supported with a firm backbone and plush, plush tannins, finishing with a breathtaking firework display. Very clever wine!
Yohan Castaing · Wine Advocate · 98
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.
Neal Martin · Vinous · 97
The 2023 Haut-Brion boasts exquisite purity on the nose with ebullient blackberry, clove, peony and black olive scents. Wonderful delineation, the oak seamlessly integrated, as usual. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly more backbone than the La Mission at the moment. Perhaps a tad more salinity, too. The finish is quite controlled and focused, nothing ostentatious or over-the-top here, but its precision has to be admired.
Antonio Galloni · Vinous · 97+
The 2023 Haut-Brion is a wine of restraint and power. Usually a much more potent and somber wine, the 2023 Haut-Brion is a quiet aristocrat. Powerful dark-red-toned fruit, blood orange, pomegranate, spice, new leather and incense lend notable complexity and nuance to this svelte, understated Grand Vin. I expect the 2023 will gain weight and body in time. I would not dream of touching a bottle anytime soon.
