chateau la mission haut brion cru classe pessac leognan

Château La Mission Haut Brion, Cru Classé, Pessac Léognan, 2012

Name: Château La Mission Haut Brion, Cru Classé, Pessac Léognan
Brand: Château La Mission Haut-Brion
Price: 1591.9 GBP

96/100

Inside Bordeaux

98/100

The Wine Independent

94/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

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delivery

in bond

Broking

2012
1x6L
DP
£1,591.90

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

There is a whopping 62% of Merlot in the blend with the balance being Cabernet Sauvignon. At this stage one would expect La Mission to be the more exuberant and flashy of the two big wines from the Clarence Dillon stable, however, the 2012 is somewhat introverted and subdued. It is a massively powerful, large scale, alcoholic wine that is undoubtedly serious, but it is not displaying the classic hallmarks of La Mission at this early stage. Intensely mineral, fine herbs, some cooked meats and savoury notes. There is huge concentration; this is a big step up from Clarence de Haut Brion. There are pure, regal flavours here: plum, sandalwood, red cherries, bitter sweet fruit, blood orange, and cassis. As one would expect from a La Mission, there are beautiful ripe fruit tannins, which firm up the wine and cover the top gums. Refined and somewhat reserved.

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When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of utmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

98/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

The 2012 La Mission Haut-Brion is medium to deep garnet colored. It sashays out with showy scents of Morello cherries, blackcurrant pastilles, and black cherry preserves, plus hints of cinnamon toast, clove oil, candied violets, and licorice. The full-bodied palate is rich and seductive, with plush, velvety tannins and loads of spice and mineral nuances on the long, long finish. This is a classic, stunning La Mission. The blend is 62% Merlot and 38% Cabernet Franc.

drinking window 2022 - 2052

date of review 02/2023

94/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2012 La Mission Haut-Brion has a very classy bouquet with cedar and graphite infused black fruit. It is not dissimilar to the 2012 Latour in many ways (in fact, nosing between my two glasses they are almost indistinguishable!) The palate is quite different though - quite precocious and fleshy on the entry, silky smooth with a caressing, irresistible finish, there is a sense of completeness here. Wonderful. Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index's Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting.

drinking window 2023 - 2048

date of review 09/2022

96/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

A wine that vibrates with life, generous, juicy, full of momentrum and pulsing minerality, ripe red and black fruits, with orange peel, saffron, clove, sage, complex and studded with succulent appeal. Interesting to note the high alcohols, showing even as far back as 2012 its location in the thermal corridor of urban Bordeaux was having an impact, but they are well balanced, adding flesh to the texture rather than heat. 75% new oak.

drinking window 2022 - 2040

date of review 03/2022

product details

Specifications

Country:

France

Region:

Bordeaux

Appellation:

Pessac Léognan

Producer:

Château La Mission Haut-Brion

style:

Red Wine

Grape Variety:

Cab Sauvignon Merlot

abv:

13%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.