1966 La Mission Haut Brion Blanc
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
Having tasted the 1966 Laville Haut-Brion three times now, I know it can be an outstanding Pessac-Léognan. This was not in the same class as the bottle tasted back in 2015, although it still shows its class. Closed at first, the 1966 then opens with those disarming lanolin and wax resin scents, albeit without the delineation of previous bottles. The palate offers notes of dried pineapple, quite saline in the mouth, with strong and powerful honeyed notes towards the finish. This certainly improved in the glass, gaining more precision and mineralité. Superb. Tasted at a private dinner with a private collector in Tokyo.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Golden. Dry end, rich at the beginning. Bitter orange peel. Opens out a bit on the end but less opulent than the 1961. (JR)
The 1966 Château Laville Haut-Brion is a "mischievous fellow." This was the second time I had tasted the wine, on this occasion blind. Frankly, it's just subdued, tight-lipped and stubbornly dumb at first, though that is a leitmotif of Laville Haut-Brion. Once it has toyed with you, it blossoms with a wondrous bouquet of lanolin, wax resin and shaved almond, later scents of dandelion, all with great precision. However, it is on the palate where it really shines, although you need to give it say one hour of aeration in your glass. Then you will find a harmonious, deep, precise, waxy-textured Laville Haut Brion that is as fresh as a daisy with hints of dried pineapple and saline notes decorating the sustained finish. There is a timelessness about this great white Bordeaux that rivets you to the spot. It is a magnificent wine, but if you do chance upon a bottle, and nowadays alas they are very rare, decant and aerate. Tasted September 2015.
Bright gold. Much less vibrant fruit than the 1975. A little skinny. Dry finish. Dried lemon peel. Interesting relic rather than pure pleasure, although it would be terribly easy to guess this wine had been made in the 1980s. (JR)
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.