2000 Ch. Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan

Opaque dark purple/black colour with an opulent viscosity. Hedonistic aromas of spice, leather, earth, tar, herbs and lively sweet, ripe fruit jump from the glass. This is exceptionally concentrated with a glorious mouth-filling palate of low to medium acidity with extra ripe tannins providing a much earlier drinking date than other vintages of Haut Brion. An extraordinarily long finish adds to its sheer class.

More orange than the La Mission 2000. Lighter, more fragrant than the La Mission 2000. Apparently much readier. More readable but utterly true to its origins. Very racy and racehorse like. Exceedingly long and subtle. Some pepper.
(Jancis Robinson - jancisrobinson.com - 23 Mar 2010)

Its bigger sister, the 2000 Haut-Brion (a blend of 51% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc) showed incredibly at the tasting, and for me is one of the three or four most prodigious wines of the vintage. A compelling nose of roasted herbs, scorched earth, sweet blueberries, plums, black currants, and a hint of graphite is followed by a deep, layered, sumptuously textured, full-bodied Haut-Brion, but one with extraordinary complexity. This wine seems more evolved and approachable than I had expected it to be at age 10. My window of maturity seven years ago was 2012-2040, but I would change that to 2010-2050.

Haut-Brion can be among the trickiest Bordeaux to taste young, often needing a full decade before the extraordinary complexity that marks this terroir begins to emerge. I was thrilled to see how well both the second wine, Bahans Haut-Brion, and Haut-Brion performed in this tasting, and both scores are slight upgrades.
(Robert Parker - Wine Advocate - Jun 2010)