Le Clarence de Haut Brion, Pessac Léognan, 2010
52% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot cropped at 41 hl/ha. This is a step up on the Chapelle de La Mission. As with all the first growths there seems to be an obsession with making less grand vin and the immediate beneficiary is the second wine. We honestly believe that Forts de Latour, Carruades de Lafite, Petit Mouton, Pavillon Rouge and Clarence de Haut Brion are all the finest examples to date. Aromatically reserved, powerful, with hints of high toned berry fruits, stones and brooding spiced mulberries. This possesses huge extract and an abundance of pure silky fruit. A firm, muscular Clarence with wonderful grippy tannins, splendid structure and a dark chocolate finish.
critic reviews
Good deep red-ruby. Herbal blackberry, licorice and gunflint on the nose. Slightly medicinal flavors of dark fruits and licorice show moderate fruit intensity but complex mineral, graphite and cedar elements. The moderately sweet, ripe finish is kept fresh by firm, ripe tannins and juicy acidity. Seems sweeter and sappier than when I tasted it at the Primeurs a couple years ago, but it's still one of the more austere Clarence de Haut-Brions in some time.
The second wine of Haut-Brion is now called Le Clarence de Haut-Brion, and the 2010 is among the finest I have tasted there. It is a broad, powerful and more muscular wine than its cross-street rival, La Chapelle de la Mission, but all the same, it is wonderfully fresh and precise, with notes of blueberry and boysenberry as well as hints of smoke and wet stones. Endowed with gorgeous fruit, texture, purity and elegance, this relatively dense second wine demonstrates how draconian the selection process has become for the top estates in Bordeaux in recent years. The blend of this wine is 52% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest mostly Cabernet Franc with just a touch of Petit Verdot. I would expect it to last at least 20 years, which is remarkable. Kudos to the team at Haut-Brion and to the proprietors, the Dillon family, who are now represented admirably and meticulously by Prince Robert of Luxembourg. He has made some changes, and all of them seem to have resulted in dramatic improvements to what was already an astonishing group of wines.