1986 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

Community Tasting Notes (132) Avg Score: 92.9 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View pepmi's profile
  • Report Issue

  12/26/2023 - pepmi wrote: 86 Points

  Father time has caught of with this wine which is now a fading memory of its once glory. Thin was the common descriptor among the tasters.
  We "suffered" through the decanter before opening the second bottle for Christmas dinner.

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Benoit Hardy's profile
  • Report Issue

  11/22/2023 - Benoit Hardy Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Nose of cigar, ashes, cedar and smoke.
  
  The palate is very archetypal of well-born mature Bordeaux. At the heart of this intense juice we have still bright black fruits around which gravitate a powerful aroma of ashes and cigar, it is a wine that could be smoked practically as these aromas are intoxicating. Then the cedar comes to polish this whole. The wine is textured with magnificent grain. Like many 1986s, this LMHB has an austere and robust structure which will make it live for a long time, especially with this perfectly integrated underlying acidity. Magnificent intense, herbaceous finish, with impressive earthy length.
  
  Excellent, a serious Bordeaux which contrasts a bit with the exuberance of 1990 or the dark depth of 1989.

  2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View dream's profile
  • Report Issue

  10/25/2023 - dream Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Quite firm and old-school as I would expect from this vintage but there is also real depth and concentration underneath the wall of somewhat rustic tannins. Quite complex and satisfying if a touch clumsy compared to other surrounding vintages. Potential upside here but this will never match the best vintages of La Miss...

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Dibbs's profile
  • Report Issue

  10/7/2023 - Dibbs Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Was very quickly at Graves and narrowed it down to 89 Pape Clement or 80s LMHB. Not surprised it is was LHMB. Favorite red for everyone’s other than mine at the table. I found this to be honestly a pedestrian vintage for LHMB (given the highs it can reach) but thank the host for his generous share.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View wineton.mee's profile
  • Report Issue

  10/6/2023 - wineton.mee wrote: 95 Points

  Ash and cigar, you could almost smoke it. Fruit is excellent of this, not fading whatsoever. Deep core of dark cherries, plums and blue berry fruit. Lovely fresh roses and with time, gotten more serious. There’s really not much to write on this, lots of typicity and just plain good.

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

View all 132 Community Tasting Notes

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.