2015 Château Haut-Brion
Original 3-Bottle & 6-Bottle OWC Wood Cases Available
Haut-Brion is where the whole idea of great Bordeaux began: the oldest of the First Growths, the only one outside the Médoc, and the estate Samuel Pepys was writing about by name in 1663. In the legendary 2015 vintage, with Pessac-Léognan at the center of the year's success, Haut-Brion made one of the wines of the vintage. Now, ten years on and entering its drinking window, we have secured a parcel direct from the château, in original 3-bottle and 6-bottle cases, on pre-arrival. These bottles have been sleeping under the château since bottling: when they arrive, they will have traveled exactly once.
The scoreboard: four 100-point scores (Jeb Dunnuck, the Wine Advocate, The Wine Independent and Jeff Leve), with Dunnuck calling it "a perfect wine that couldn't be any better" and Leve declaring it the best wine yet made under Jean-Philippe Delmas. Add 99s from Jane Anson and Decanter and you have one of the most decorated First Growths of the decade.
100 Points – Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
100 Points – The Wine Independent
100 Points – Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
99 Points – Jane Anson
99 Points – Decanter
98 Points – James Suckling
98 Points – Vinous
98 Points – Wine Spectator
That is an extraordinary level of agreement, even for a First Growth in a legendary vintage.
Our Tasting Note
The 2015 Haut-Brion is a deep, powerful expression of Pessac-Léognan at its peak, a blend of 50% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc. The nose is immediately expressive: black cherry, cassis and ripe plum up front, then cigar box, warm gravel and the smoky, roasted-earth note that could only come from Graves.
On the palate it is full-bodied and dense, yet the texture is pure silk. Dark chocolate, violets and crushed stone fold into polished tannins, and underneath all that power runs the freshness and structure to carry this wine for four decades. Ten years in, it is just beginning to show what it has.
“The 2015 Haut Brion is a perfect wine that couldn’t be any better and is certainly at the top of this great vintage. A blend of 50% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the balance Cabernet Franc, this full-bodied, concentrated, backward, yet sensationally pure 2015 boast knockout notes of blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, ground herbs, and graphite, with a terrific damp earth/minerality quality emerging with time in the glass. Straight, focused, and built like a skyscraper, with a stacked mid-palate, forget bottles for 7-8 years and enjoy over the following three to four decades.”
“A blend of 50% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, the medium to deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Haut-Brion is reticent to begin, languidly revealing crushed black cherries, ripe black plums and wild blueberries with sparks of cinnamon stick, cloves, nutmeg, espresso, unsmoked cigars, tapenade, crushed rocks and lavender. The full-bodied palate possesses wonderfully complementary contrasts of bold black and blue fruit richness and delicately nuanced cherry fruit, baking spices and floral accents, strutting ripe, finely pixelated tannins and seamless acidity that is placed firmly in the background, finishing very long and with plenty of attitude. This impeccably poised, exquisitely perfumed 2015 Haut-Brion possesses the most alluring yet seemingly effortless beauty. While it bears only a passing resemblance in its opulent personality to the now legendary 1989, like that vintage the 2015 cannot fail to hedonically satiate and intellectually edify all lovers of great Bordeaux who drink it. What’s more, it also has the blue-blooded tenaciousness to remain this jaw-droppingly impressive, throughout its many guises over time, and for a very, very long time.”
“The 2015 Haut-Brion is composed of 50% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 8% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet in color, it rolls out of the glass with a youthful, still primary core of juicy black plums, crushed blackcurrants, and boysenberries, before revealing evocative notes of iron ore, violets, dark chocolate, and licorice with a waft of tar. The full-bodied palate is packed with muscular black fruits and lots of mineral nuances, framed by very firm, very fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length and depth. Stunning!”
“If the color does not let you know you’re in for a treat, the nose is going to knock you over with its floral, smoke, cigar wrapper, black cherry and cassis notes. The purity of fruit here is off the charts. The wine is all about its silk and velvet textures from that point forward. The finish is so expansive, it feels like it keeps on going, moving across an array of flavors long after you’ve put the wine where it was supposed to go. This is the best wine yet produced by Jean Philippe Delmas yet. Bravo!”
“Stately, muscular, nuanced, waves of toasted cumin, black tea, pomegranate, sandalwood, cloves, smoke, tar, tobacco, intense and concentrated, clearly decades ahead. Rich and powerful, leans into the fingerprint of the vintage but makes it its own. Jean-Philippe Delmas estate director, Jean-Philippe Masclef technical director. 78% new oak for ageing.”
“Rich and sumptuous on the palate with huge depth of fruit yet reined in by fresh acidity, with masses of tight tannins. It’s already appealing to drink (as are many 2015s) this really needs a decade or more to allow it to fully develop. The 15% alcohol is carried so easily here, with the crushed rock, sage, lavender and warm earth characters making it a standout First growth. Rated as a 100-point wine by many influential judges and undoubtedly one of the wines of the vintage.”
“This is all about seduction and beauty with tobacco, berries, tea and wet earth. Full-bodied, round and sexy. Love the polished and beautiful tannins. Racy and refined.”
“A huge, dramatic wine, the 2015 Haut-Brion is magnificent. Vertical in its construction and towering in its reach, the 2015 is going to need a good decade-plus to even start becoming approachable, as it needs to lose baby fat and develop the full range of its aromatics. Even at this early stage, though, it is wonderfully complete and positively stunning.”