2018 Haut Brion Blanc
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Tasting notes
After a summer as hot and dry as 2018, the almost biting Sauvignon Blanc character of the Haut-Brion Blanc is welcome, especially when given the gunsmoke edge that you find here. Plenty of depth and complexity, with white pear, mango, pineapple, citrus and grilled almond that deepen as the wine opens. The Mission Haut-Brion Blanc could have been included here also, but I give the Haut-Brion Blanc the slight edge in this particular vintage. 50% new oak.
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Average Score
Neal Martin
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Haut-Brion Blanc is very similar on the nose compared to the barrel tasting a year earlier, offering quite pungent scents of gooseberry, nettle, white flowers and lemon thyme, all well defined with moderate complexity. The palate is balanced with a grassy, malic entry, more so than in barrel. I appreciate the energy of this Haut Brion Blanc, and it has gained some weight toward the finish. Monitored over 24 hours, it improves further and evolves into a quite delicious white Pessac-Léognan.
A Sauvignon Blanc-dominated release that includes just under 20% Sémillon, the 2018 Château Haut-Brion Blanc reveals a vivid light gold hue as well as gorgeous notes of crushed limes, white flowers, white grapefruit, and obvious crushed rock-like minerality. These carry to a medium to full-bodied white with flawless balance in its fruit, acidity, and alcohol, beautiful mid-palate depth, and an undeniable elegance and purity that's something to behold. It's not a powerful house, but it has a chiseled, elegant, incredibly long style that's going to benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and keep for 20 years or more.
About the producer
Ch. Haut-Brion is the only classified growth in Pessac-Léognan. One of the five First Growths, it is renowned for producing both exceptional reds and whites. Along with its sister estate, Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion, it is part of the Clarence Dillon stable.