-
97
/ 100
Wine Enthusiast -
96
/ 100
Jeb Dunnuck -
96
/ 100
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate -
95
/ 100
Vinous -
95
/ 100
Decanter
Red
Classification
Cabernet Blend
Variety
2021
Vintage
750ml (Bottle)
Bottle Size
France
Country
Bordeaux, Pessac-Leognan
Region
14.0%
Alcohol %
15 Plus Years
Cellaring
Scores
97 / 100"Barrel Sample. The wine has a rich texture and is splendidly fruity. It is structured while juicy and full of complex tannins. This is a wine that sings of fruits that are ripe while never heavy. (RV)"
- Wine Enthusiast
96 / 100
"The 2021 Château La Mission Haut-Brion checks in as a blend of 47.9% Merlot, 45.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc that hit 13.4% alcohol and is still resting in 27% new French oak. Graphite, scorched earth, tobacco leaf, and gorgeous cassis and violet-tinge blue fruits all define the bouquet, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a vibrant, elegant mouthfeel, terrific tannins, and one hell of a great finish. It's a softer, rounder, more layered wine than the Haut-Brion, with a little more sexiness, yet both are utterly brilliant wines."
- Jeb Dunnuck
96 / 100
"Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with loamy soil, sweet spices, cigar box and licorice, the 2021 La Mission Haut-Brion is full-bodied, lively and seamless, with a deep, concentrated core of fruit framed by bright acids and supple, powdery tannins. This charming, sensual rendition of La Mission is a blend of 48% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Cabernet Franc, attaining 13.4% alcohol. (WK)"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
95 / 100
"The 2021 La Mission Haut-Brion is blessed with an ethereal bouquet, subtle touches of wilted iris petal and truffle infuse the black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, perfectly judged acidity, quite compact on the mid-palate with linear and correct finish. Not the most charming La Mission Haut-Brion. You could argue that it is slightly "aloof", yet intuition tells me it has something up its sleeve for later on. Patience necessary. (NM)"
- Vinous
95 / 100
"Rose, violets and peonies on the nose, with dark chocolate and cassis, smells like liqueur chocolates, perfumed and aromatic. A crystalline quality to the fruit, so driven and pure on the palate. Energetic and lively filled with strawberry, raspberry, red cherry and plum - direct with a vein of exotic spice - cinnamon and clove, as well as touches of orange, bitter grapefruit, dark chocolate and crushed stone. Such a lot going on here, but so well delivered with intensity and direction with racy acidity that keeps everything lifted the whole way through. Lovely minerality on the tongue, the graphite lingering with the juiciness that is still so mouthwatering even on the finish. Compelling and charming."
- Decanter
Tasting Notes
2021 has once again shown magic of La Mission Haut-Brion's terroir: after a cool Spring, its gravelly soils provide the vines with indirect sunshine, by their capacity to reverberate. In August, thanks to a warm, dry turn in the weather and cool temperatures at night, eagerly awaited ripeness gradually reaches all the early-ripening plots of La Mission Haut-Brion. Every year, it is a decision-making process that takes into account the grapes’ ripeness and weather conditions which determines the date for the start of the harvests. In 2021, after a season of changeable weather, these two factors reach a fine balance and enable us to pick the grapes serenely. The berries are healthy with lower quantities of sugar than in previous years, predicting quite a different alcohol/acidity balance to the past solar years, recalling too, from an analytical point of view, Bordeaux’s classic vintages of the 1990s. Ultimately, 2021 is positively and most definitely a surprising year.
Tasting Profile
- Light
- Full
- Low Tannin
- Tannic
- Sweet
- Dry
- Low Acidity
- High Acidity