2002 Haut Brion
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Tasting notes
Drinking at point, the 2002 Château Haut-Brion is a beautifully pure, layered, classic wine from this château. Healthy plum-hued with very little bricking, it has a textbook Haut-Brion nose of ripe black fruit, smoky tobacco, scorched earth, and spices. These all carry to a medium to full-bodied Haut-Brion that's balanced, has ripe, polished tannins, solid mid-palate depth, and a great finish. It's one of the quintessential Graves that grows on you over the course of an evening. I don't see it getting better, yet it clearly has another two decades of prime drinking ahead of it. I'd be happy with bottles in the cellar.
Critic scores
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Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
As it closes in on age 20, the 2002 Haut-Brion is beginning to drink very well, opening in the glass with aromas of blackcurrants, plums, cigar wrapper, loamy soil, burning embers and violets. Fleshing out considerably with an hour or two in the decanter, it's medium-bodied, vibrant and concentrated, exemplifying the ideal of intensity without weight, with a deep core of fruit framed by powdery tannins and lively acids. An underrated wine that has rewarded patience, the 2002 Haut-Brion confirms that great terroirs over-perform in cooler, more challenging years.
Very mousy and unappetising, lots of acidity underneath. Is this a temporary midlife crisis? (JR)
About the producer
Ch. Haut-Brion is the only classified growth in Pessac-Léognan. One of the five First Growths, it is renowned for producing both exceptional reds and whites. Along with its sister estate, Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion, it is part of the Clarence Dillon stable.