1980 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 88.1 points

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  2/19/2020 - RockinCabs wrote: 90 Points

  Nose: cedary tobacco laced with bright cherry, blackberry and mineral notes. Palate: Clearly the fruit is falling off here, but in a lowly vintage like 1980 this is to be expected. Pleasant herb, tobacco and cedar LMHB that has many of the chateau makers I enjoy. Proves LMHB can make solid wine in nearly any vintage.

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  2/15/2020 - englishman's claret wrote: 89 Points

  Surprisingly for the 1980, the nose has a panoply of La Mission empyreumatic notes - woodsmoke, cigar, grilled peppers. Unsurprisingly for 1980, almost all of the fruit has gone. The cedary, tobacco filled palate is pleasant enough, but here too the fruit has almost entirely gone and it's followed by a short finish. Pretty successful for the year, but these should have been drunk years ago.

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  2/14/2015 - Trelos Likes this wine: 89 Points

  Great nose! Barnyard leather and smoke. Falls short on the palate. Was much better after opening up for 2 hours, but past its prime for sure.

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  10/30/2012 - gilbertinpdx wrote: 85 Points

  Unfortunately this bottle was far beyond it's prime. decanted and tried over the next 4 hours. Although it got better as time wore on, it lacked any interest. The nose improved rather dramatically toward hour 3, with violets dominating. However, no fruit ever showed in the mouth, while earth and leather dominated. Should have cracked a decade earlier.

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  9/18/2008 - noppakit s. wrote: 89 Points

  I'm not sure this is a 2nd or 3rd of testing 1980 but I found this bottle when moving my wine cellar in Zurich to the better place. Anyway, the old cellar is also very nice place for aging wine. I kept this 1980 too long and totally forgot that I still have one bottle left....in the bottom of the cellar.
  
  After cutting foil...oh la la...white and clean top-view...perfect bottle for 28 years-old wine.
  
  Still dark ruby with little amber edge, seductive clear, beautiful colour.
  
  The nose is charming...showing every nice scent each time when pouring wine into a glass. First, begins with a beautiful cassis, hints a bit of Haut-Brion's medical scent. Good clean and deep, sexy and full of passion. Tabacco, cool wet stone, hints a bit of greeny in a short time and gone, spice, forest floor at the end of a bottle...Burgundy style...very charming.
  
  1st impact with a nice sweetness. Good balance, firm tannin, delicious, at 2.15 hours, same feeling of drinking Screaming Eagle 2003, very firm structure when moving the wine goes round and round in the mouth. Last 30 mins, the Burgundy character like my friend said, old bordeaux is like Burgundy wine, I agree.
  
  Aftertaste is very fine, not that long but good enough for 88-91/100.
  
  Seem like It's not the 1980...far better than Haut-Brion 1980, Mouton 1980 even Lafite 1980 though. The tannin is like...can aged 10-15 years more. No sign of serious weakness. Brovo !!!
  
  ps. Everytime when I drink 1980 wine, I always think about her...Ryoko Hirosue Birthday...18 July 1980...

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View all 8 Community Tasting Notes

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