2016 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 97.3 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View englishman's claret's profile
  • Report Issue

  4/3/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 97 Points

  The 2016 La Mission Haut Brion actually expands rather quickly in the decanter, filling the glass with a boysenberry, plum preserve, hot earth, mineral, ink, and a touch of potpourri. Yet it’s not until the next day that the nose really gives a glimpse into how suave yet impactful this wine will become, adding an interesting hickory smoke element. There's lots of everything on the palate - lots of depth, lots of tannin, good acid to match. The only thing that nags a bit is the alcohol which, despite the scale of the wine, is still slightly felt at 14% and lingers on the finish. Nevertheless, this seems to have the material - and the typicite - to pull it off. Whether it will end up as one of the all time great LMHBs with that hint of heat is a different question, but it’s worthwhile remembering that the standards are very high indeed to end up in the pantheon of the best LMHB vintages. This easily outpaces the 2015, which struggles much more to keep its alcohol in balance.
  
  96-98

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

• Options

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

  7/4/2022 - stschutz Likes this wine: 98 Points

  Simply stunning. Incredible nose, color, texture, and palate of dark cherry. Velvety tannins, incredible purity of fruit, multi-layers of forest floor, tobacco, and a really long finish. I really can't imagine this wine being better than it is right now. I understand most reviewers advise a nice decant, but we pop and poured this after several great bottles for our 4th of July dinner at mom's, and it was utterly fantastic. Note, my dad preferred this bottle over the 2015 Mouton R. we had right before it, so "there's that." What a night.

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

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Order66's profile
  • Report Issue

  3/20/2022 - Order66 Likes this wine: 98 Points

  Uuuufffffffffff.
  
  Since we enjoyed the Mouton as *technically* an experiment, what the hell- let’s open up our favorite Chateau. The first two hours we were shell shocked. Nothing. In a moment of fear, I nearly shrieked thinking “is this, this CORKED?”.
  
  Alas, like most great wines of this vintage, it just needed some air. After setting a stopwatch, at 5h34m, we had reached the destination. First came the rocks, that intense volcanic, incense laden earthiness that shakes me to my core. I was already in heaven. A sip, and immediately nirvana. This wine was tannic, it was chewy, it was silky, it was heavy cream, it was air, it was the epitome of freshness, it has the sensuality of your wildest dreams but the pragmatism of your achievements. It’s a spring flower garden married to the petrichor and decaying leaves of fall. It has every entire bit of blackberry and blueberry goodness, it possesses the right amounts of coriander and cardamom, but finishes with this murky, viscous almost seepage like finish of bay leaf, rocks, and freshly roasted coffee beans with the tannins of a beast. It’s magical.
  
  This wine is a legend. For those of us who are La Mission fans, you are in for a treat. This wine certainly rivals the 2005 and 2010. Oh how great it feels to be in the company of legendary wines.

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

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View otto60's profile
  • Report Issue

  3/26/2020 - otto60 Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Tasted over two days
  Magic nose white flowers/incense/smoke
  Glowing dark red.
  Lots of tannins good acid.
  Quite closed, hardly any change over two days.
  I remember a tasting of young 1990 bx (abt. age 3 or 4ys) where LMHB (which is wonderful nowadays) was good but not overwhelming, so i think this will be better or perfect in 15-20ys.

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

• Options

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

  11/13/2019 - PanosKakaviatos Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Ode to France, les Accabailles and the Crus Classés de Grave (Château Carbonnieux): If the second wine needs five years time, this needs double that in your cellar. This is a powerful wine that comes across more Pauillac than Graves. Already the color is deep purple still like a barrel sample and the nearly 80% new oak tannin is well integrated but present along with the tannin from the blend of 57.5% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon. While Haut Brion manages depth and breadth with sheer elegance, LMHB is more of the former along with extra power.

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

View all 9 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.