2022 Château Haut-Brion Blanc, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
The 2022 Haut-Brion Blanc has a well-defined bouquet with fresh Anjou pear, white peach and orange pith scents - excellent definition and focus. The palate is well balanced with a waxy texture, light tropical notes and stems ginger hints toward the lively finish. This is an excellent Haut Brion Blanc, though it doesn’t fully match the calibre of its most outstanding vintages.
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (April 2023)
The 2022 Haut-Brion Blanc is fabulous. Rich, explosive and dramatic, the 2022 is stunning right out of the glass. Soft curves wrap around a core of lemon confit, marzipan, chamomile, dried flowers and mint. The 2022 is a serious white that will blossom beautifully with time. It is wonderfully impressive in this tasting.
Drink 2028 - 2042
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (April 2023)
Nectarine, peach pit, biscuit, liquorice root, charcoal, gunsmoke; this is a thoroughly well-structured white wine with 3.3ph, a little higher than in some vintages but delivers grip, freshness, complexity and ageing ability. 41.9% new oak. Harvest August 16 to 23.
Drink 2023 - 2032
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (May 2023)
Delivering aromas of peach, sweet orchard fruit, spring flowers and lemon oil, the 2022 Haut-Brion Blanc is a full-bodied wine with a seamless, enveloping profile. It’s glossy, textural mid-palate that segues into a sappy, racy finish of crystalline purity.
A blend of 51.4% Sémillon and 48.6% Sauvignon Blanc, this wine is fatter and fleshier than the more tensile La Mission Haut-Brion and will, in all likelihood, offer a broader drinking window.
Yohan Castaing, Wine Advocate (April 2023)
Dried lemon and lime with honeysuckle and stone aromas that follow through to a full body with fantastic length and energy at the end. Phenolics give it great length and stature. 51.4% semillon and 48.6% sauvignon blanc.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (April 2023)
Herbal and scented on the nose, blossom, green apple, ginger and lemon - intense and sharp, more tense and decisive, poised with excellent movement and intensity of fruit. It doesn’t have the sharp acidity; it’s the structure, texture and construction that is so compelling.
Nicely filling and weighty, almost oily but cool and charming. That added intensity, and tension keeps this more lively and lifted than La Mission Blanc, which is more fun and friendly. Confident and well-balanced, still not super acidic or particularly thrilling; the overall frame is excellent, and the spice and bitterness aspects are appealing.
It feels purposeful and makes you want another glass. 3.3pH.
Drink 2023 - 2037
Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com (April 2023)
The 2022 Château Haut-Brion Blanc is close to an even split of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc, but it seems to lead with its Sauvignon at this point and has bright citrus, lime pith, honeyed flower, and obvious chalky minerality on both the nose and palate. Medium to full-bodied and beautifully balanced, with notable concentration and acidity, it’s another brilliant wine from this team.
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (May 2023)
About this WINE
Chateau Haut-Brion Blanc
Chateau Haut Brion is located in the bustling suburb of Pessac on the outskirts of Bordeaux, this 45-hectare 1er Cru Classé property was the only property outside of the Médoc and Sauternes to be included in the 1855 Classifcation. The vineyards (Red: Cabernet Sauvignon 45%; Merlot 37%; Cabernet Franc 18%; White: Semillon 63%; Sauvignon Blanc 37%) lie on large (up to 18 metres deep in places) gravel banks interspersed with clay.
Jean-Bernard Delmas, one of Bordeaux`s great characters, has been régisseur since 1961 and the wine-making is now overseen by Jean-Philippe Masclef. Haut Brion is characterised by its seductive perfume, harmony, elegance and its ability to age with grace and dignity. A superb white is also produced.
Pessac-Leognan
In 1986 a new communal district was created within Graves, in Bordeaux, based on the districts of Pessac and Léognan, the first of which lies within the suburbs of the city. Essentially this came about through pressure from Pessac-Léognan vignerons, who wished to disassociate themselves from growers with predominately sandy soils further south in Graves.
Pessac-Léognan has the best soils of the region, very similar to those of the Médoc, although the depth of gravel is more variable, and contains all the classed growths of the region. Some of its great names, including Ch. Haut-Brion, even sit serenely and resolutely in Bordeaux's southern urban sprawl.
The climate is milder than to the north of the city and the harvest can occur up to two weeks earlier. This gives the best wines a heady, rich and almost savoury character, laced with notes of tobacco, spice and leather. Further south, the soil is sandier with more clay, and the wines are lighter, fruity and suitable for earlier drinking.
Recommended Châteaux: Ch. Haut-Brion, Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion, Ch. Pape Clément, Ch Haut-Bailly, Domaine de Chevalier, Ch. Larrivet-Haut-Brion, Ch. Carmes Haut-Brion, Ch. La Garde, Villa Bel-Air.
Sauvignon Blanc & Sémillon
The blend used for White Graves and Sauternes and rarely encountered outside France. In the great dry whites of Graves, Sauvignon Blanc tends to predominate in the blend, although properties such as Smith Haut Lafite use 100% Sauvignon Blanc while others such as Laville Haut Brion have as much as 60% Sémillon in their final blends. Sauvignon Blanc wines can lose their freshness and fruit after a couple of years in bottle - if blended with Sémillon, then the latter bolsters the wine when the initial fruit from the Sauvignon fades. Ultimately Sauvignon Blanc gives the wine its aroma and raciness while Sémillon gives it backbone and longevity.
In Sauternes, Sémillon is dominant, with Sauvignon Blanc playing a supporting role - it is generally harvested about 10 days before Sémillon and the botrytis concentrates its sweetness and dampens Sauvignon Blanc`s naturally pungent aroma. It contributes acidity, zip and freshness to Sauternes and is an important component of the blend.
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Description
This is a very worthy effort in the vintage context, if not in the league of the astonishingly vivid 2021. Harvest began on 16th August and was completed in a week. The year’s heat has given the wine a lanolin texture, and there are appealing, if firm, notes of apricot, peach stone and acacia.
The wine has an excellent density on the palate and will likely age better than expected. As always, with this remarkable wine, the haunting length of the finish remains in the memory.
Sémillon 51%; Sauvignon Blanc 49%
Drink 2026 - 2040
Score: 17.5/20
Berry Bros. & Rudd (April 2023)
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