critic reviews
The 2024 Haut-Bages Libéral was cropped at 30 hl/ha between September 24 and October 4. It's due to be aged for 12 months in 63% new oak barrels and 37% in ovoid amphoras. This has a lucid purple hue. The nose is a little timid at first but opens with a few swirls of the glass, revealing blackberry, wild hedgerow and light tobacco scents. The palate is medium-bodied, reserved in style and grainy in texture, with lighter tannins than the previous vintages and a graphite-infused finish. Unashamedly classic Pauillac in style, this is a successful biodynamic wine that has a spring in its step.
Leafy and fragrant, attractive quality and you can see the careful construction, just a little tight on the finish. Never the biggest-shouldered wine in Pauillac, but it is juicy and finely boned, good qualty. 3.57 pH. Harvest 24 September to 4 October. 30 hl/ha. 40% new oak. High Cabernet Sauvignon in the vintage, up at almost 95%. 30hl/h yields,
More open and gourmand than expected, the 2024 Haut-Bages-Liberal offers up aromas of dark berries, mulberries, cassis and flowers mingled with delicate notes of menthol. Medium-bodied, structured and dense for the vintage, it's built around firm tannins with a lively mid-palate and a spicy finish. This is a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc.