2015 La Mission Haut Brion

The 2015 La Mission Haut-Brion has a supremely gifted bouquet with vigorous blackberry, pencil box and cedar scents that seem to have moved little since I last tasted it in 2019. The palate is medium-bodied, very ripe and actually much toastier than I remembered. This has pliant tannins and the savory element I picked up on before is now accentuated. That shaves some of the enjoyment away on the finish, hence my score. Tasted at the 2015 Ten-Year-On tasting at Bordeaux Index.

A notch less muscular than the Haut-Brion, exceptionally finessed and textured, satin and slate, push and pull, crushed rose petals, soy and smoked earth. Great quality, love the mandarin peel bitterness that gives lift through the finish, and the waves of floral aromatics that linger in your palate after the wine has gone. An exceptional wine with pleasure on its mind. Jean-Philippe Delmas director, 78% new oak for ageing.

The 2015 La Mission Haut-Brion is blessed with an outstanding bouquet of brilliantly focused and delineated black fruit laced with graphite and cedar - pure class. The medium-bodied, harmonious palate delivers fine-grained tannin and impressive depth. There is a slight savory element (just like the Haut-Brion) that infuses the middle, and brown spices and sage linger on the finish. This is a profound La Mission Haut-Brion that dares surpass Haut-Brion on this showing. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.