1982 Laville Haut Brion
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Tasting notes
Several years have passed since I last tasted the 1982 Laville Haut-Brion Blanc. This has a pale hue given its age, a wonderful aromatic profile with lanolin, caramelised pear and honeysuckle scents, just a hint of chlorophyll in the background. Fine definition. The palate has a wonderful, oily texture matched by a keen thread of acidity. Perhaps the difference with the previous example is that it does not quite knit together on the finish, which I suspect is down to a little more bottle variation than anything else. Still, this is "good kit", to quote a fellow imbiber. Tasted single blind at the 1982 dinner at Cornus in London.
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Neal Martin
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
The 1982 Laville-Haut-Brion Blanc is a superb wine that unfurls slowly in the decanter and glass to reveal a complex bouquet of waxy citrus and orchard fruits mingled with hints of lanolin, marzipan, vanilla pod, petrol and dried white flowers. Full-bodied, layered and textural, it's dense and concentrated, with bright acids, chalky structure and a long, bone-dry finish, it's a wine that has gone from strength to strength over the last decade.
The 1982 Laville Haut-Brion is a vintage that by chance, has been opened two or three times in recent months. I am not going to complain! Just as I expected, there was no point approaching the glass for the first few hours or so. Recalcitrantly offering little on the nose, the 1982 then (as in the past suddenly) changes its mind and offers wonderful lanolin, honeysuckle and Mirabelle scents that just seem to “curl” themselves around your senses. The palate is very well balanced, this example not quite as weighty as previous ones, yet it exudes precision on the almost Rhône-like finish. Maybe the 1982 is the best vintage of the decade? Tasted at a white Bordeaux-themed private dinner in London.
The 1982 Laville-Haut-Brion Blanc followed the same routine as all the other vintages of this now defunct cru. It was poured. It didn't do much. I left it in my glass. Then after two hours, it started opening. Within three or four hours, you wanted to elope to a far off land, just you and this wine. It was actually very similar to the bottle I tasted back in 2010 at the La Mission vertical. Mirabelle, honeysuckle and white peach on the nose, with hints of candied pear, are all brilliantly defined. The palate is tensile and beautifully weighted yet weightless, thanks to the silver bead of acidity that delivers immense precision on the finish. It is a wine that demands that you pour it into a glass, sacrifice part of the bottle before it opens and then wait for a glacial unfolding to occur after the wine has been prudently double decanted. (I can only recommend decanting this for five to six hours.) One can only conclude that it is teasingly brilliant. Tasted May 2017. Jun 2017, www.robertparker.com
About the producer
Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion – sister estate of Ch. Haut-Brion and part of the Clarence Dillon stable – is one of the greatest estates in all of Bordeaux. Based in Pessac-Léognan but not officially classified, it produces outstanding red and white wines.