2022 Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

The 2022 La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc is incredibly tightly wound, especially for the year and considering its heavy Semillon tilt in the blend. It will be interesting to see where this goes. There’s tremendous depth here and also a phenolic-like feel that is impossible to escape. My impression is that there is a lot of wine here, but it needs time to come together.

Drink 2026 - 2037

The 2022 La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc contains much more Sémillon 72%) this year due to its quality, according to Jean-Philippe Delmas. It has a perfumed bouquet with white peach, honeysuckle, red apple and light candle wax. Superb delineation. 

The palate is taut and linear, chalky in texture with good tension. It shows quite impressive weight, perhaps more than the Haut-Brion Blanc, with a dab of ginger enlivening the finish. Superb.

Drink 2030 - 2060

Perhaps it’s because of the drought-affected vintage, or it could be due to the fantastic terroir of La Mission Haut-Brion, but in any case, the 2022 La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc is especially aromatically expressive, bursting with lively aromas of pear, linen, smoke, gunflint, lemon and spring flowers. Medium to full-bodied, crystalline and pure, it’s tensile and seamless, with impressively vibrant acids and a saline finish.

The 2022 Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc is mostly Sémillon 72%), and compared to its big brother, the Haut-Brion Blanc, it's more closed and inward, with classic Sémillon power and richness. 

Ripe melon, white flowers, honeyed minerality, and chalky notes all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a great mid-palate and outstanding length. It's a downright mineral bomb on the finish and is a brilliant white in the making.

So much oyster shell here with a chalk stone character, dried lemons, sliced white peaches, and pears. It’s medium to full body with lovely fruit and a flavorful finish. Bitter lemon as well. 72% semillon and 28% sauvignon blanc.

Crisp, crunchy, juicy, lively and filling, this has an excellent energy and tang to it while still keeping a balanced weight and cool freshness at the end. Not at all showy, very relaxed, generous and fun. 

I really like this, giving just enough juicy and creamy lemon, apricot and peach fruit and bitter citrus peel to be really interesting. Long length, great persistence and detail. This will be great to drink and enjoy young. 3.3pH.

Drink 2023 - 2037

This is an extremely impressive white with high Sémillon levels in the blend this year, helped by old vines that resisted the heat well. Gorgeous construction and balance, with precision-cut citrus, bitter almond, slate, dill, white pepper spice, a juicy grip through the palate and noble bitterness bringing things to a close. Less 1st wine than last year - 20% less first wine with the same yield; 41% new oak barrels for ageing. Harvest August 17 to 23.

Drink 2023 - 2032