1972 La Mission Haut Brion
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 1972 La Mission Haut-Brion typifies this moribund vintage. It’s fungal and funky on the nose, with malodorous boiled cabbage scents, and the palate is volatile and seems excessively chaptalized. Tasted at the La Mission Haut-Brion vertical in London.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Sweet (chaptalised?) and then pretty dry on the finish. Dried out. (JR)
This vintage clearly demonstrates how well La Mission-Haut-Brion can do in an off year. The year 1972 was certainly the worst vintage of the decade, yet this wine displays a wonderfully fragrant, spicy, cedary, slightly herbaceous, berry-scented bouquet, ripe, round, spicy flavors, medium body, and an attractively lush finish. This delicious wine should be drunk up over the next 2-3 years. It is an amazing success for this vintage. Anticipated maturity: Now. Last tasted, 1/89.
This vintage clearly demonstrates how well La Mission-Haut-Brion can do in an off year. The year 1972 was certainly the worst vintage of the decade, yet this wine displays a wonderfully fragrant, spicy, cedary, slightly herbaceous, berry-scented bouquet, ripe, round, spicy flavors, medium body, and an attractively lush finish. This delicious wine should be drunk up over the next 2-3 years. It is an amazing success for this vintage. Anticipated maturity: Now. Last tasted, 1/89. Jan 1998, www.robertparker.com
About the producer
Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion – sister estate of Ch. Haut-Brion and part of the Clarence Dillon stable – is one of the greatest estates in all of Bordeaux. Based in Pessac-Léognan but not officially classified, it produces outstanding red and white wines.