April 13, 2024 - Medium garnet appearance
Medium intensity with aromas of fresh and dried black currant, blackberries, black plums leather, cedar, dried spices, meaty and a touch of earthy.
The wine is dry with medium + acidity , medium integrated and dried tannins, medium alcohol, medium + body. The intensity is medium + and the finish is long. It opened really good in the glass although decanted for 30 min. Very good quality. Maybe the flavor intensity was a bit lower than expected. Highly complex. Can drink now and for a long time
October 20, 2023 - Meget ung og skal bruge lang tid i karaffel
May 19, 2023 - (SYP) PNP. Small glass
A nose of vanilla, spice, blackcurrants and a touch of wild bushes, with an intense core of tobacco. Rather soft and savoury on the palate, pales in comparison with '98 Lafite. 90+
March 13, 2023 - A nice Mission, while not a major one. It is still fresh and has a nice tension, with aromas of ripe fruits, hints of cigar box, a bit earthy too. Moderate length, slightly angular tanins. Pretty good, but to be honest I was expecting a little more balance and complexity.
November 23, 2022 - Ten Vintages Haut Bailly vs Mission HB: Preamble: All wines tasted blind in 10 vintage flights (1994-2015). To every flight one random third wine from Pessac Leognan added (2x Haut Brion, 2x Smith, 2x Pape Clement, 1x Branon, 1x Luchy Halde, 1x Carmes, 1x Chevalier). All wines opened a few hours before consumption but no decanting.
Some findings:
1) Haut Bailly outperformed Mission (5 vs 4 wins, 92.5 vs 90.5 average). 2) Haut Bailly is a rather structured wine which seems to shine bright in ripe and warm vintages, without any form of excess ripeness or extraction. 3) When done right (05/15), Mission eclipses Haut Bailly with its depth and delineation , but several vintages showed a bit too ripe but especially with the alcohol not well masked (09/10). 4) Pessac wines usually need quite some air to open up. In this setting (no decanting), most wines needed a lot of swirling to fully open up and will need more cellar time. 5) The best wines today were Haut Bailly 09 (96pts) & 10 (95pts) and Mission 05 & 15 (95pts).
TN: This felt very disjointed and very extracted. Underneath there was lots of dark fruit, ripe but not too ripe, some earthy aromas high freshness, a bit drying tannins and not a good balance. Tasting and scoring it blind, I was surprised to see the Mission label. I went back to check for obvious faults but didn’t find them, hence I sticked with the 85pts, despite a high likelihood of this not being a representative bottle. Anyway, 2008 doesn’t seem to be a winning vintage for Pessac wines.
June 11, 2022 - Very good
August 9, 2021 - Decanted off only a small amount of chunky sediment. Medium dark, pure ruby red colour. Fairly subdued nose that needs a lot of coaxing before revealing slight charcoal, light red and black fruits, dusty earth, light India ink and a bit of bramble. Very subtle. Silky smooth feel, medium bodied, tangy acidity, slippery tannins and a long, dry finish. Cool black and blue fruit on the palate. Lots of blue plum, blackberries, black currant leaf, carbonate minerals, cedar and ink. Really opened up after 2 hours showing more sour cherry and chalk. Subtle and subdued at this point. Probably needs more time. Only 91 points at this time.
August 5, 2021 - Drank at 67
A beautiful example from 08. Still quite young.
July 29, 2021 - Quaffable.
January 2, 2021 - 2021 New Year's @ Ben's!: Black fruits, olives, truffle, cigar, smoke, spices. Powerful, lush yet well weighted. Complex. Ok to open now but I would give this more time for the fats to shed. 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc. 93/94