La Clarté de Haut Brion, Pessac Léognan, 2025
Le Clarté is a second wine of both Mission and Haut Brion Blanc, with 50% of the grapes coming from each respective Chateau. The 2025 is 76.5% Sémillon and 23.5% Sauvignon Blanc. 2025 Le Clarté is an unapologetic, classically-styled Bordeaux white blend. Sauvignon Blanc adds lots of fresh cut grass and citrussy lemon fruit notes. On the palate there is a pleasing waxiness from the Sémillon, allied to a stone fruit profile with some quince, gooseberry and apple.
critic reviews
The 2025 La Clarté de Haut-Brion has a bright and lively bouquet with scents of white flower, apricot and freshly sliced pear, with just a hint of white chocolate underneath. The palate is well balanced, with a pleasing fatness and weight, counterbalancing acidity keeping it on its toes. Just a dab of stem ginger towards the finish, this is a decent La Clarté de Haut-Brion.
Always a wonderful white wine, and this has real charm, white pear, garden apples, an orchard feel that is not the case every year, suggested hidden depths rather than the exuberance of some vintages. Totally beautiful, drawn out, pumice and slate. 23hl/ha yield, August 14, 2nd earliest harvest in history after 2003, just one day earlier. Harvest August 14 to 21. 59% new oak. Grégoire Bucaille vineyard manager. 3.35ph
The 2025 La Clarté de Haut-Brion, a blend of 76.5% Sémillon and 23.5% Sauvignon Blanc (50% Haut-Brion and 50% La Mission Haut-Brion), reveals a refined, spicy and fresh bouquet with notes of ripe white fruits. Medium- to full-bodied, round and enveloping, it’s built around a core of fruit with notable dry extract, combining freshness with a sense of movement on the palate. It's a particularly successful rendition of this cuvée.