2020 Château La Mission Haut-Brion
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Tasting notes
Tasted blind. Inky crimson. Pure black fruit with a top note of cedary pencil. Pure, dark and elegant. On the palate, this is really refined, flowing across the palate even with so much tannin density. Elegant and embryonic with a lovely dark minerally character.
Critic scores
Average Score
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
Neal Martin, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Black, red, and blue fruits, along with incense, spice box, cigar box, tobacco leaves, and flower aromatics work their way into the perfume. The wine coats your palate with non-stop layers of deep, dark, ripe, fruits that once they get started, they never stop. The fruit has depth, width, length, and complexity, leaving you with a seamless tasting experience that remains for at least 60 seconds. If you have the disposable income, and some time to wait, this is a future legendary vintage of LMHB that needs to be experienced! With time, this could easily surpass Haut Brion and hit 100 Pts. The wine blends 48.6% Merlot, 43.2% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8.2% Cabernet Franc, 14.7% ABV.
The 2020 La Mission Haut-Brion is a brilliant effort that exhibits a level of balance and integration that are impressive in such a powerful young Bordeaux. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with burning embers, pencil shavings, violets and smoked black tea, it's full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a layered, elegantly muscular profile, its brooding core of fruit framed by a generous endowment of powdery tannin that tempers the ripeness of the vintage. Checking in at 14.7% alcohol, it's nonetheless more classically styled than the more flamboyant 2019 vintage or even the slowly maturing 2010 which I re-tasted alongside for context.
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2020 La Mission Haut-Brion is a blend of 48.6% Merlot, 43.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 8.2% Cabernet Franc, with a pH of 3.85. After a swirl or two, the nose blossoms with an alluring array of black cherries, kirsch, and blackcurrant jelly scents, followed by hints of rose oil, sandalwood, tree bark, and Indian spices. The medium to full-bodied palate is densely laden with muscular black fruits, supported by firm, rounded tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing long and fragrant.
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.