Bordeaux 2025: Chateau Haut Brion

PERFECTION IN A BOTTLE

The 2025 Clarence Dillon line-up is a bit special. Jean-Philippe Delmas and his team have pulled out all the stops, creating a brilliant range, headed by their flagship Haut Brion. Marvellous Merlot provides a sumptuous core of vibrant fruit, coursing with fine minerals and floral touches. The Cabernets impart glorious aromas and a nervy tension. It’s fair to say, we’re big fans of Haut Brion every year, but the 2025 is even more distinguished than usual – a terrific, abundant grand vin, with so much promise. It comes as no surprise that Neal Martin and Yohan Castaing have both awarded potentially perfect scores (98-100/100).

We can also offer one of Bordeaux’s rarest cuvees, Haut Brion Blanc. Produced in miniscule quantities, this legendary white wine is rare as hen’s teeth. It is renowned for its dazzling aromas and dynamism – a true collector’s piece.

We wrap up the offer with Haut Brion’s excellent second wines: Clarence de Haut Brion and La Clarté de Haut Brion. Both are a chip off the old block, providing earlier drinking expressions of the Grand Vins.

CRITICS' NOTES

“The 2025 Haut-Brion was picked from September 1 (slightly later than La Mission) to September 18 at 29 hl/ha. Aged in 59% new oak, this has a very pure and elegant bouquet with ebullient brambly red fruit, crushed stone, potpourri and touches of Earl Grey. Wonderful delineation and a little more refined than, say, the 2020 or 2022. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins, and there is more complexity here than La Mission, more depth and minéralité. Fresh and marine-tinged towards the finish that makes you want to come back. This year, the First Growth has put a bit of distance between itself and La Mission. Drinking Window: 2035 – 2070”

98-100/100 Neal Martin, vinous.com

“The 2025 Haut-Brion is, as usual, more reserved and austere at this stage than La Mission, unwinding in the glass to reveal notions of dark wild berries mingled with spices, pencil leaf and licorice. Medium- to full-bodied, dense and layered, it’s built around a multidimensional core of fruit framed by structuring yet well-integrated tannins, delivering a notably controlled expression of power and concluding with a long, perfumed, subtly ethereal finish. While still tightly knit at this stage, it possesses considerable depth—IPT (an alaytical measure of tannic concentration) levels exceeding 100, rarely observed—that is perfectly controlled and will require extended cellaring. Recent refinements in the estate’s approach, notably in viticulture, are translating into fruit of greater balance and freshness, even under the warm, dry conditions of 2025. It stands as one of the more impressive renditions of Haut-Brion in recent years.”

98-100/100 Yohan Castaing, The Wine Advocate