critic reviews
The 2014 Haut-Bergey has a fine bouquet: blackberry, graphite and tobacco, a hint of singed leather in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with solid, quite firm tannin, very peppery but there is the fruit substance to support all that and the finish that is akin to a Saint Estèphe. It will require several years to soften but should be worth the wait. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
The 2014 Haut Bergey has certainly "calmed down" since I tasted a precocious and rather unruly wine from barrel. Now it has learned a few manners, more refined and focused with blackberry and raspberry fruit, touches of black tea and damp earth. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannin, with blackberry and strawberry fruit, although I discerned just a touch of greenness that jarred on the sour finish. Hopefully that will disappear with time, but at the moment, this does not show as well as I had hoped.