This year’s tour of the Bordelais started with a big bang. We visited one of the most highly regarded Châteaux. The history of this Château is also closely intertwined with American heritage.
Harvest had just started and we were able to watch the arrival of the Merlot grapes at the winery. Barbara Wiesler-Appert was our host.
Château La Mission Haut-Brion
Château La Mission Haut-Brion was founded in 1533, the same year as the neighboring Château Haut-Brion. In 1607 Château La Mission Haut-Brion was bequeathed to the Congregation of the Mission and became the property of the Roman Catholic Church. Napoleon’s secularization policies made it possible that a family from Louisana purchased the estate in 1815. In 1935 the American Clarence Dillon - also with roots in Louisana - purchased the next door estate Château Haut-Brion and later founded the Domaine Clarence Dillon. In 1983 the Domaine Clarence Dillon purchased Château La Mission Haut-Brion.
Today Prince Robert of Luxembourg (great-grandson of Clarence Dillion, grandson of C. Douglas Dillon -US Secretary of the Treasury in the 60s-, son of Joan Dillon who married Prince Charles of Luxembourg) is President of Domaine Clarence Dillon. General Manager is Jean-Philippe Delmas, 3rd Delmas generation being responsible for the Domaine Clarence Dillon Châteaux.
Château Haut-Brion as well as La Mission Haut-Brion produce red and white wines. 6 times Robert Parker awarded La Mission Haut-Brion 100 Parker points. In 2009 Liv-Ex (the world’s most important wine exchange) reviewed the 1855 classification and recommended that Château Haut-Brion be elevated to Premier Grand Cru Classé, just as Mouton-Rothschild was elevated to this status in 1973.
Berry Bros. & Rodd: Château La Mission-Haut-Brion is the greatest Graves wine after Haut-Brion and in some vintages is considered the superior wine of the two. La Mission-Haut-Brion is situated just across the road from Haut-Brion in the commune of Talence in the southern suburbs of Bordeaux. Since 1983, both properties have been under the same ownership, Domaine Clarence Dillon S.A.
La Mission-Haut-Brion's vineyards (Cabernet Sauvignon 48%, Merlot 45%, Cabernet Franc 7%) lie on a large (up to 18 metres deep in places) gravel bank interspersed with clay. The wine is fermented in temperature-controlled, stainless steel vats and then matured in oak barriques (100% new) for 18 months. The wines of La Mission Haut Brion are rich, oaky and powerful and need at least 10 years of bottle ageing before they should be broached.
Tasting
2011 Château La Mission-Haut-Brion
wine-searcher: US$311
The production of the 2011 La Mission-Haut-Brion (55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc) was a tiny 4,100 cases, compared to 6,000 cases in 2009 and 5,100 cases in 2010. The 2011 is a big, sexy, smoky, classic La Mission displaying lots of road tar, graphite, barbecue, meats, mulberry, black currant and blueberry notes. It is full-bodied with sweet tannin as well as an expansive, fleshy style. The harvest was late in 2011 despite the fact that this micro-climate is one of the warmest and most precocious in all of Bordeaux since it is essentially in the city of Bordeaux. This brilliant wine, one of the vintage-s superstars, should drink reasonably well in 3-4 years and keep for 25 or more.
I can-t say enough good things about the job Jean-Philippe Delmas has done after taking over for his well-known father at La Mission-Haut-Brion and Haut-Brion. As long-time readers know, I am an addict for both of these wines.
Score: 93/95 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (200), April 2012
2011 Château Haut-Brion
wine-searcher: US$537
Tasted blind as a vintage comparison at the Valandraud vertical, the 2011 Haut Brion has always been an excellent Pessac-Léognan, though recent encounters suggest it does not have the potential of the 2012. It has a gentle and caressing bouquet full of copious dark cherry and raspberry fruit, a touch of saddle leather and a seam of dark chocolate emanating from the oak regime, which needs more time to integrate (though it is not an Haut-Brion that is going to demand years and years in bottle). The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and feels gentle in the mouth. It is very well balanced, although perhaps the oak comes through too strongly on the finish, when frankly there is no need. Nevertheless, this is a classic Pessac-Léognan - maybe mild mannered and a little conservative compared to more ambitious recent vintages, yet there is no doubting its class and pedigree.
Tasted December 2016. 92/95 Wine Advocate-Parker
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