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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 89.2 pts. and median of 89 pts. in 17 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by melvinyeowq on 3/29/2024 & rated 93 points: Bordeaux night: Based on previous notes this wine suffers from bottle variation but fortunately I drew the long end of the stick for this bottle. Savoury leather and deep tobacco notes, some Chinese tea. Very representative of Graves. Terrific length. (230 views) | | | Tasted by WyattTheSomm on 6/20/2022 & rated 92 points: I hope my review helps A lot of people understand this wine better and clears up all the negative and positive review juxtapositions here.
Sight: Beautiful Medium ruby garnet color clearly showing bright orange rim.
Nose: The wine to my surprise was beautifully floral, perfumed dried cherry, strawberry, black current, with secondary notes of Tea leaf, earthy soil, and some graphite.
Palate: On the palate the wine performed similarly to the nose I actually perceived more red fruits in this bottle but yes plum and Black current were present. Great balance and the tannins were at such a great resolve no perceivable bitterness (Somebody mentioned in another review). Just a lovely, pretty wine greeting me with poise and grace not power or austerity.
Overall: Seeing the reviews and drinking these bottles has allows me to see the folly with this vintage; that there is much bottle variation, which is what I suspected from reviews. After a proper decant at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and a divine dinner experience at the newly 2 Michelin star rated restaurant I noted how good my final bottle of this was…. For good measure I had the Sommolier as well as the manger have a taste and both agreed this bottle had much life and was not only beautifully aromatic but just a pretty wine showing amazingly well. I hope this maybe gives everyone better piece of mind if you see another bottle you got a 50-50 shot maybe it’s an amazing one like I had for my final bottle and luckily mine was enjoyed over such a good occasion! (1047 views) | | | Tasted by Paul D on 5/13/2022 & rated 91 points: Glorious Graves at Piccolino (Piccolino, Exchange Square, London): Deep/opaque garnet. Rich, dark fruited nose, smoke, spice, tobacco. Touch of fruit cake. Medium/full bodied, rich dark fruit, tobacco, smoke, vibrant acidity, touch of grip on the finish. Excellent, drinking well. (1311 views) | | | Tasted by Vinumming & Ahhing on 5/13/2022 & rated 93 points: Paul D's Graves Greats (Piccolino, Exchange Square, London): Very classical LTHB. Rich and deep, with some smokiness and subtle tea notes (Russian Caravan perhaps). Also layer upon layer of dark fruits. The palate has more of the same but the tannins are not fully resolved. Lovely as this was tonight with another 5 years I suspect even better. My second favourite wine of the night. (1259 views) | | | Tasted by BuzzzzOff on 8/13/2015 & rated 90 points: After nearly two hours breathing in the bottle, we experience a brownish-red colour with a slightly clear rim visual. Old, leather-bound books with that university library slightly musty smell for which we have bitter-sweet memories, i.e. we love for some of the great authors we met whiling the hours away and detest because, well, we spent a lot of hours studying when we could have been sipping wine ;-). On the palate, the definition of tight, nothing positive/negative to say. Patience. Four hours later and we are starting to experience that for which we hoped. Reasonable amount of light red fruits, soft and subtle tannins, a hint of spice, medium body with a relatively long, lingering flavour of preserved veggies. We will sip for another hour or two with hope for continued happiness on the nose and palate. She is not a Left Bank Bordeaux powerhouse Cabernet Sauvignon at this point in her life, but she is deserving of a sip and we just might wait a little longer to finish the other bottles still waiting in the cellar. Some mature ladies never seem to fall from grace. She is one of them...thanks! (3649 views) | | | Tasted by chefdilletante on 1/1/2015: Decanted for five hours. I can see why this wine has garnered some negative reviews. It's a touch dowdy, with little in aromatics, followed by some surprising and unpleasant bitterness. Then, the wine gets down to business with some sous bois and earth. But--especially given that this is La Tour Haut Brion's final vintage, and that these vines were deemed good enough to become part of La Mission Haut Brion--tasting this juice was a disappointment. (3537 views) | | | Tasted by Jeff Leve on 8/4/2014 & rated 85 points: Tannic, rustic, medium bodied and better on the nose than the palate, there is not much fruit left in this wine. I'd opt for drinking this sooner than later. (3897 views) | | | Tasted by LESTERTHEINVESTOR on 7/26/2014 & rated 89 points: The wine looks brick colored. The legs are medium. There is moderate sediment in the bottle. It smells like mineral, clove and ethyl acetate, quite astringent (decanted for 4 hours). It tastes like blueberry, raspberry, mineral, medium toast, oak, clove and tobacco. The body is medium/full. The wine has round texture. The wine finishes medium. The wine has medium acidity. I do think this still can be enjoyed for another year or so. (3238 views) | | | Tasted by Tony Dub on 12/24/2012 & rated 89 points: Great cassis nose, but wine was rather thin. Quite tannic, tannins possibly overpowering the fruit. Past its best. (4031 views) | | | Tasted by joshbryer on 5/29/2010: Possible TCA.....will slow ox and see.... Don't think this was corked, just fruitless and dowdy. (3437 views) | | | Tasted by DAN BAILEY on 10/23/2009: 2 bottles drunk over dinner with friends. Dark black, very young colour. Wine approaching early peak maturity. Classic claret nose of lead pencil and some leafy herbal notes in a lovely mouth coating package of dark fruits and just the right amount of tannin to give the wine structure. A little sombre but still a nice showing. (3543 views) | | | Tasted by Papies on 8/6/2009 & rated 87 points: Nice and open on the nose. Lacks structure and complexity.Watery feeling. Mild Tannins are there for sure and so is the fruit but something is missing. Avg mouthfeel and finish.
Drank is L'Aubrevoir in Athens on a nice summer night at 27degrees C with good friends, little decanting. (3373 views) | | | Tasted by SteveStrauss on 1/10/2009 & rated 85 points: Wine takes minimum of 1 hour to open - 1-1/2 hours would be better. (3694 views) |
| Château La Tour Haut-Brion Producer website - Read more about Chateau La Tour Haut BrionRed Bordeaux BlendRed Bordeaux is generally made from a blend of grapes. Permitted grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and rarely Carménère.Today Carménère is rarely used, with Château Clerc Milon, a fifth growth Bordeaux, being one of the few to still retain Carménère vines. As of July 2019, Bordeaux wineries authorized the use of four new red grapes to combat temperature increases in Bordeaux. These newly approved grapes are Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Castets, and Arinarnoa.
Wineries all over the world aspire to making wines in a Bordeaux style. In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify wines made in this way. Although most Meritage wines come from California, there are members of the Meritage Association in 18 states and five other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Mexico.France Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia)
Wine Scholar Guild vintage ratings
2018 vintage: "marked by a wet spring, a superb summer and a good harvest"
2019 vintage reports
2021: "From a general standpoint, whether for white, rosé or red wines, 2021 is a year marked by quality in the Rhône Valley Vineyards. Structured, elegant, fresh and fruity will be the main keywords for this new vintage."
2022 harvest: idealwine.info | wine-searcher.comBordeaux Bordeaux Wine Guide
Vins Bordeaux (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux)
History of Bordeaux
History of 1855 Bordeaux Classification
"2009 is all about ripeness, with wines impressively packed with ripe fruit and high alcohol levels. They are showy, in-your-face, and full of pleasure. The 2010s have the fruit and alcohol levels of the 2009s, but with a compelling freshness on the finish that balances the fruit and provides a perfect sense of structure." - Ben Nelson
"2016 is a landmark vintage in certain spots of Bordeaux and it should be remembered as one of the most inspired campaigns of the last 40-50+ years." -Jon Rimmerman
"The quality of red Bordeaux in 2016 was universally lauded – although the response to the en primeur campaign was muted. Quantity was high too, with the equivalent of 770 million bottles of wine produced. An exceptionally dry summer with cool nights eventually, thanks to mid September rain, resulted in small, thick-skinned, ripe grapes, and the wines are marked by high tannin and acidity, with superb aromatic fragrance." - Jancis Robinson
"2017 was complicated, but there are some excellent wines. Expect plenty of freshness and drinkability from wines that will offer excellent value, and others that will rival 2016 in terms of ripeness and ageability. But they are likely to be the exception not the rule, making careful selection key." - Jane Anson
"In the past, a vintage such as 2022 may have been overripe, raisined and low in acidity but 2022 had a sneaky little reservoir in its back pocket - a near perfect marriage of cool/cold/rain the previous winter and the previous vintage that literally soaked the soils (a key to why 2022 is not 2003...or 1893)." - Jon RimmermanGraves Vins de Graves (Conseil des Vins de Graves) - Read more about Pessac Leogan Graves and its winesPessac-Léognan Pessac-Leognan reds:
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
Soil: Predominantly gravel and sandy rock, with varying proportions of clay and sandstone
Surface Area: 1,491 ha
Pessac-Leognan whites:
Grape Varieties: Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon
Soil: Gravel and rocks covered with sand, sandstone, and clay
Surface Area: 275 ha |
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