Château Les Carmes Haut Brion, Pessac Léognan, 2004
55%Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon make up the blend for this extremely classy and sophisticated Pessac. Smouldering blackthorn and blackberry fruit notes, smooth velvety tannins. Notes of fresh wild herbs, juicy fruit and pepper spice give the wine tremendous lift on the finish.
critic reviews
The 2004 Les Carmes Haut-Brion has an attractive bouquet, mainly red fruit mixed with blood orange and light licorice notes, perhaps even a dab of cough candy with time in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly rustic tannins, but it is balanced and ferrous in style with a short, tannic finish. If you have bottles, I would drink this over the next five or six years.
An impressive perfume of blueberries, raspberries, graphite, cedar, and flowers suggestive of an outstanding wine soars from the glass of this 2004 Pessac-Leognan. A lush attack reveals excellent fruit, texture, and precision, but the wine narrows slightly in the finish. If it adds weight over the next few years, it will merit an outstanding rating. Give it 1-3 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 12-14. It is undeniably a sleeper of the vintage.