2017 Les Carmes Haut Brion
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2017 Les Carmes Haut-Brion comprises 45% whole bunches and matured for two years in 80% new oak plus foudres and amphorae. Complex on the nose, this offers black olive and brine tinged black fruit, crushed stone and light minty aromas, quite intense in the context of the vintage. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red fruit on the entry, quite Rhône-like in flavour profile, hints of fennel and thyme interwoven into the red fruit, persistent on the finish. Delicious and distinctive. Tasted at the Les Carmes Haut-Brion vertical at the château.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
41% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon. 50% whole-bunch vinification. Aged 24 months in new oak barrel (80%), foudre (10%) and amphora (10%) Deep crimson core but paler at the rim. Pleasant red-berry aroma and flavour with just a hint of green. Simpler aromatically and already beginning to open. Lighter and a little more fluid on the palate compared with the top years (2016, 2018, 2019), the tannins fine but seemingly less forceful. Fresh and eminently drinkable. Falls away a little on the finish. (JL)
A lighter framed vintage, goes long on subtle woodsmoke, and we are back to roses here but they are petals and rosebuds, not stems, along with fragrant peony, raspberry, redcurrant, cassis. Graceful, plenty of sappy tannins and slate minerality, with liftoff through the finish. A lovely wine, graceful with finesse and hidden power. Can drink earlier than either the 2015 or 2016, just ensure you carafe for a few hours. 50% stems. Ageing takes place in a mix of 25% new oak, 5% oak casks, and 10% amphoras.
Tasted blind. Mid ruby colour. Quite earthy and musty on the nose. There is a real sense of dried herbs and stems – Carmes? The palate starts with a plush texture ahead of firm, mouth-coating tannins. There is ambition here, but the grip adds real austerity and a lightly leafy edge to the fruit for now. Highly stylised. I expect this to improve as it settles in the bottle. (TP)
About the producer
One of the most exciting properties in Bordeaux, Les Carmes Haut-Brion technically sits within the city’s limits today. Guillaume Pouthier arrived in 2012 and, under his tenure, the property has been elevated to the highest ranks.