2022 Château Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

53.6% Merlot, 35.4% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample.

Hallmark Haut-Brion opulence of texture. Powerful tannic frame behind. Lovely depth of fruit. Dark- and red-fruit notes with a touch of liquorice as it opens. Complex, powerful and persistent with enough freshness to provide balance.

Drink 2034 - 2055

The 2022 Haut-Brion shows considerable promise, revealing aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with notions of pencil lead, liquorice, tobacco leaf, spices and incense. It's rich and muscular, full-bodied, broad and seamless, with a deep, layered core of fruit framed by an ample endowment of tannin. 

This blend of 53.6% Merlot, 35.4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Cabernet Franc results in a lip-smacking exemplification of controlled power. Analytically, the 2022 possesses a similar level of tannins to the 2010, and a similar pH to the 2009, yet it is more suave and polished than the 2010 at the same stage and seemingly more dynamic than the 2009.

Slightly better than its sibling La Mission Haut-Brion, the 2022 Château Haut-Brion has a full-bodied, concentrated, structured style that will demand bottle age. Cassis, graphite, scorched earth, and tobacco are just some of its nuances aromatically, and it shows the ripe, powerful style of the vintage. There are lots of tannins here, especially on the finish, and it will need 7-8 years in the cellar.

The 2022 Haut-Brion, matured in 70% new oak, represents the 99th vintage under three generations of the Delmas family see my recently published book for a remarkable photo of the first). It has slightly darker fruit than the La Mission at the moment. Incense and potpourri infuse the black plum and bilberry. 

There's a touch of brine in the background. It manifests more and more complexity as it opens in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied and is blessed with unerring symmetry. It has a bewitching granular texture, complex and more focused than recent vintages, and is almost pixelated on the finish. Quintessential Haut-Brion. 

Magnificent but not necessarily the best wine that Delmas oversaw in this vintage.

Drink 2030 - 2065

Milk chocolate and blackcurrants on the nose, fragrant ripe black cherries and some floral notes. Sleek, supple, suave, really confident and shiny. This keeps the tension more than La Mission at this point with a vein of freshness and intensity. It’s not out to charm, but it’s out to impress. 

Excellent construction, clean depth and power, tense, strict and streamlined, with a touch of creaminess and saltiness. You get waves of flavour intensity with ripe, concentrated fruit, soft acidity and a clean stone freshness. Tannins fill the mouth with edges of both minerality and toasted spices. Calm and controlled, impressive with focus. 3.8pH. A yield of 35hl/ha.

Drink 2030 - 2052

Currants and cedar with sandalwood and peaches. Fascinating aromas. Violets. Full-bodied with a crunchy and electric palate of primary fruit, with hints of tangerines and citrus. Great finish with structure and polish. 53.6% merlot, 35.4% cabernet sauvignon and 11% cabernet franc. Interesting to have such high merlot in the blend.

Stately, inky colour, this is impressively vivid and energetic despite the intensity of the construction. Fresh fig character, black chocolate, cinnamon, turmeric, creamy bilberry and blackberry fruits, with clove and sandalwood spice, and a slow build of texture and contrast from the slate tannins as they draw out the flavours. Harvest August 29-September 19. 3.9ph. Less Cabernet Sauvignon than usual due to tiny yields,

Drink 2030 - 2050

The 2022 Haut-Brion is a bit restrained, given the natural opulence of the year and the other wines in the Clarence Dillon portfolio. Deep and wonderfully layered, the 2022 possesses remarkable depth but also less of the explosive energy of such a Haut-Brion signature. 

I suspect that will come in time, as the 2022 shows quite a bit better with a little aeration. Violet, gravel, incense, leather, tobacco and scorched earth linger. Superb.

Drink 2025 - 2062