Château Les Carmes Haut Brion, Pessac Léognan
    Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion

    Château Les Carmes Haut Brion, Pessac Léognan,

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    Château Les Carmes Haut Brion, Pessac Léognan, 2018

    Justerini & Brooks Tasting note
    Château Les Carmes Haut Brion, Pessac Léognan, 2018

    This was our first visit to Les Carmes Haut Brion and what an education it was. Guillaume Pouthier emerged from his submarine whilst stroking his white Persian cat. Sorry that was our imagination running away… The team here may have a Philippe Starck designed winery complete with piranha infested moat, but they are not members of SPECTRE. In fact, they are very charming people making very interesting wines. These suburban vineyards comprised of Mindel gravels on clay and limestone are planted with 39% Cabernet Franc, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 41% Merlot. Guillaume described it as 'a vintage of conviction'. He had to make some bold choices. First they decided to decrease extractions to enhance aromatics, there was no pumping over or pigeage - he described it as a ‘passive extraction’. They continued with 50% whole bunch fermentations that reduces the alcohol content and adds a sapidity. The nose offers aromas of wild hedgerow fruit, kirsch and herbs. This is really quite juicy and plump with an abundance of creamy, sexy, dark fruits, lots of plums and sweetness on the palate, vibrant dark berries; there is plenty of lift and tension. There is a real persistence to the fruit as well as a salty precision to the tannins. Very good. Produced from 37% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon and 29% Merlot and aged in 75% new oak barrels, 16% foudres and 9% amphorae.

    ABV:
    13.5%
    96/100
    Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux
    This is a truly delicious Pessac Léognan that shows just how much Carmes Haut-Brion sets itself apart, showing grip and stretching out through the palate. Don't expect the same character as you are going to find elsewhere in this vintage. Fragrant aromatics, roses, violets, crushed rocks, fennel, aniseed, with texture and tannic heft. Fresh dark fruits, edges of bitter Bendick mints, smoked caramel, slate. 70% whole bunch, no irrigation, cover crops intead on the clay limestone soils (when picked the grapes were at 14.4%, came down to 13.5% after vinification with use of stems and specific yeast). 40hl/h yields, 70% new oak, 3.6ph.
    Date Reviewed:
    05/2023
    Drinking Window:
    2030 - 2050
    97-99/100
    Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent
    The 2022 Les Carmes Haut-Brion is a blend of 40% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 26% Merlot, 90% aging in oak (70% new barriques, 20% 18hl casks) and 10% in amphoras. Deep garnet-purple in color, it pops out of the glass with lifted notes of redcurrant jelly, wild blueberries, blackcurrant pastilles, and lavender, leading to cerebral wafts of cast-iron pan, dark chocolate, and dusty soil with a hint of licorice. The red and black berry flavors do pirouettes on the medium-bodied palate, featuring incredibly fine-grained tannins and fantastic tension that gives a shimmer to the very long mineral-laced finish. As usual, the alcohol is 13.5% (the stem inclusion absorbs some of the alcohol during fermentation) and the pH is 3.64. This is a vibrant, showy, immediately impactful wine that flies in the face of traditional Bordeaux, carrying it off with bags of grace and style. A slight carbonic character from the whole bunch juxtaposed by a rock-solid structure thanks to the ripe stem tannins creates a unique signature. I personally love it, but if you're a Bordeaux purest, this might not be your cup of tea.
    Date Reviewed:
    05/2023
    Drinking Window:
    2030 - 2065
    96-98/100
    Neal Martin, Vinous
    The 2022 Les Carmes Haut-Brion was picked 5-20 September with 70% whole bunches (three vats contained 100% whole cluster that was cofermented), matured in 70% new oak, 20% in 18hL casks and 10% in amphora. It underwent a long, six-week infusion in the vat at a maximum 26° Celsius, just over a week longer than usual. It is extremely precise on the nose with blackberry, briary, crushed stone and hints of curry leaf. The palate is just beautiful. Sculpted tannins, fine-boned, lending this Les Carmes unerring symmetry and focus. This is loaded with mineral-laden dark berry fruit and feels seamless toward the finish. I am not inclined toward hyperbole, nevertheless, this is the best Les Carmes that Guillaume Pouthier has overseen.
    Date Reviewed:
    05/2023
    Drinking Window:
    2030 - 2070

    specifications

    country:
    France
    region:
    Bordeaux
    Appellation:
    Pessac Léognan
    Producer:
    Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion
    style:
    Red
    Grape Variety:
    Cab Sauvignon Merlot
    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.

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    Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion

    Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion

    Château les carmes haut-brion was bought in 2010 by patrice pichet, with the aim of making this unique 10-hectare property a jewel in the heart of the city of bordeaux. It was necessary to provide Château les Carmes Haut-Brion with new equipment to receive and shape the future vintages in the best conditions, and therefore live up to the qualitative goals of this prestigious vineyard of Pessac Léognan.

    Patrick Pichet, who has headed up the first single-family real estate group in France (since its creation), is a great lover of wine as well as design and architecture. That’s why he naturally called on two outstanding names: the famous creator Philippe Starck and the architect Luc Arsène-Henry. They have been entrusted with the design and implementation of an architectural building which include a new vat house, a barrel cellar and reception rooms. The works, which started in January 2014, were completed for the 2015 harvest, so that this vintage can fully benefit from the new facilities. The main entrance of Château les Carmes Haut-Brion has then been redesigned in order to open the propriety on the city.

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