1997 Château La Mission Haut-Brion
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Tasting notes
The 1997 La Mission Haut-Brion has a garnet core and light bricking on the rim. The bouquet is mature and leafy, developing touches of hickory and clove, and revealing suggestions of freshly picked mint in the background. It is actually very endearing for a 1997 and has held up well over the past 24 years. The palate is also fully mature, offering leafy, red berry fruit, quite piquant in style, and hints of tobacco, peppercorns and cracked black pepper toward the pinched but nevertheless engaging finish. Is it the best La Mission Haut-Brion ever made? No. Did I finish the bottle? Yes. Job done. Tasted at home over dinner.
Critic scores
Wine Spectator
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Deep, intense, healthy colour but quite developed at the rim. Clearly a step up from the Smith in terms of finesse, terroir and general care lavished on it. Still quite youthful and in absolutely no hurry to grow up. If this wine could speak it might have a rather annoying nasal drawl, it’s so confident and laid back. But – you’ve got to admire it. I think I’d still rather than 12 bottles of the Smith than six of this though… but then looked at as a buy compared with other vintages of La Mission, it is a bit of a steal. (JR)
This dark ruby/plum-colored wine offers a big, spicy, tobacco leaf, and black fruit-scented nose, lots of structure and tannin, good depth, medium body, and enough accessibility to be consumed now (although it will improve for 5-7 years and last for a dozen or more).
Outstanding mineral and licorice character on the nose, but rather austere and lean. Medium body. Needs time to develop. Best after 2002. James Suckling, Wine Spectator 2000