2025 Le Clarence de Haut Brion
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2025 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion has a little more comeliness than the La Chapelle de la Mission, perhaps due to the higher percentage of Merlot (66.5%). Dark cherries, sous-bois, a touch more minéralité coming through by direct comparison. Just a very marginal ash-like scent. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins, firm in the mouth, a tad more backbone than expected. Delineated and delivering quite a potent, granular-textured finish, you can feel the mouth tingling with red peppercorns on the aftertaste. Great potential and a very fine Deuxième Vin.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin, Vinous
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
Ripe red and black fruits, scorched earth, graphite, and smoky tobacco all emerge from the 2025 Le Clarence De Haut-Brion, the second wine of Haut-Brion. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has chewy, focused, firmer tannins, beautiful balance, and a great finish. It has plenty of classic Pessac class and character.
Cigar wrappers, blackberries, currants, mint leaves, and flowers already shine in the perfume. There is freshness, length, and elegance here that make it hard to believe this is a second wine. Refined, and energetic, the wine expands as it lingers on your palate. The finish shows its mineral essence, which adds to the complexity. The wine blends 66.5% Merlot, 28.3% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5.2% Cabernet Franc. 13.25% ABV, 3.7 pH.
Structured yet refined, with polished tannins that run the length of the wine. Dark berries, smoke and cedar on the nose and palate. Medium-bodied with very integrated tannins. Classy second wine from Haut Brion.
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.