Château Laville Haut-Brion

Pessac- Léognan Cru Classé

2008 Château Laville Haut-Brion
JAN 13 Only about 6000 bottles made. If I remember correctly, the last vintage before changing the name to La Mission Haut-Brion blanc. Pale lemon yellow. Lemons, grapefruit, minerals, floral, vanilla, intense and layered. Fresh acidity, superb texture, almost creamy with lemon acidity playing and making it fresh and lively. Mouthwatering. Gorgeous wine, superb length. 96

2004 Château Laville Haut-Brion

OCT 11 Pale golden, rich and complex, intense minerals, honey and ripe notes. Fresh acidity, ripe and rich mouth-feel, balanced, intense and long, layered, feels closed even when it gives this much, stunning finish. 95

1996 Château Laville Haut-Brion

JAN 18 Oxed. 

1990 Château Laville Haut-Brion

JUL 13 Golden colour. Started out very beeswax but very elegant minerals on the palate. After an hour opened (not decanted), rich and fat nose, honey, floral, beeswax, some nuts and minerals. Fresh acidity, rich and yellow fruits, creamy texture, a superb mineral backbone all the way under the rich fruit and texture, more focused palate than nose, marzipan, elderflower touch, long finish. 94

1989 Château Laville Haut-Brion
NOV 18 Top fill. Pale golden. Flamboyant nose of lemons, orange flowers, honey, orange marmalade, lemon peel, tropical fruits, faint hazelnut touch and almost a saline note, layered and detailed and so bright! Fresh acidity, minerals, layered, detailed, intense, mouthwatering and playful, stunning balance, just doesn’t let go, brilliant wine, ads and ads with air and just never stops on the finish. Liquid magic! 100

1989 Château Laville Haut-Brion

SEP 14 Served blind. Towards golden. Wax, peach, minerals, almonds, honey, floral, light apricots note, layered. Fresh acidity, ripe, fruity, refreshing, detailed, balances between sweet tropical notes and salty minerals, elegant and refined, long. With answer in hand a good but not perfect bottle. 94

1989 Château Laville Haut-Brion
MAR 13 Fill one cm below excellent cork. Pale golden. Citrus, touch of orange marmalade, some honey and tropical fruits, touch of nuts that blows off after fifteen minutes. Scented, complex and layered. Fresh and lively acidity, mouthwatering as few, extreme minerality and waves upon waves, that with air gets much more into a whole, that is extremely long. Needed an hour to be complete. One of the longest white wines I've ever tried. 100

1987 Château Laville Haut-Brion

SEP 15 Pale lemon yellow. Marzipan, some grapefruits, vanilla, intense nose, rich, some nuts, detailed and nuanced, layered. Fresh acidity, elegant, rich and intense, surprisingly powerful for the vintage, detailed, layered, minerals, lemons and oysters finish with some marzipan, long. 94

1985 Château Laville Haut-Brion

MAR 13 Towards lemon yellow. Started out very smoky and grapefruity on stilts. Needed air to open and it's surprisingly youthful. With air the minerals came together, lovely nuance, superb citrus, tiny touch of apricots and vanilla. Layered nose. Fresh acidity, lively, very nuanced, the smoky minerals are more persistent. Almost as young as the 07 tasted a few months back. Extremely long and nuanced. Another perfect bottle. Floral after an hour, so complex, nuanced and layered. A rare beauty. 98

1983 Château Laville Haut-Brion

APR 17 Bottom neck fill. Pale golden. Honey, spices, some minerals, grapefruits nose, detailed nose. Fresh acidity, rounded, apples, citrus, smoky, detailed, minerals, some honey, smoky notes, some nuts, very long. Extremely long minerals and citrus with oysters finish with air. 97

1983 Château Laville Haut- Brion

MAR 13 Pale golden. Beeswax, tropical, fatter than it's youngest brother, lychee, grapefruit, almost floral, sweet lilies. Fresh acidity, somewhat fuller body, camphor touch, rounded body and texture, intense and layered, two very different expressions, incredibly long. After 45 minutes, getting even more focused, my best bottle yet of this. 97

1983 Château Laville Haut-Brion

NOV 12 Very top shoulder fill. Golden. Honey, marzipan, orange zest, vanilla and apricots. Fresh acidity, almonds and very marzipan, more developed than last bottle, somewhat flinty minerals beneath, lacks some of the nuances, but long. 91

1983 Chateau Laville Haut-Brion
MAY 10 Golden, honey, minerals, lime, lemon, pear, apricot overtone, flinty, even slightly smoky, developed and still fresh. Fantastic acidity, unique balance, so complex, intense, fantastic minerality and lime, ripe lemon finish, so fresh and lively, exceptional length, a beauty. 95

1983 Château Laville Haut-Brion

OCT 08 Golden. Honey, acacia, some grapefruits, minerals, nuts, ripe lemons nose. Fresh acidity, almost exploding on the palate, intense, detailed, playful, refined, layered, stunning length. 97

1982 Chateau Laville Haut-Brion

MAR 10 Deep lemon yellow, A level fill, soaked cork. Some yellow fruits, floral, almost petroleum minerality, honey and apricots. Fantastic balance, amazing acidity, playful and lively, minerality of a different world, fantastic length. They truly age beautifully, and act much younger than they are. 96

1982 Château Laville Haut-Brion

NOV 08 Golden. Floral, lilies leaps out of the glass, peach, minerals, yellow overripe apples, detailed nose. Fresh acidity, rounded texture with intense smoky minerals beneath, rich and intense, long. 96

1978 Château Laville Haut-Brion

JAN 18 Pale lemon yellow. Wet wool, some spices and white fruits nose. Fresh acidity, lively, spicy, smoky, some white fruits, minerals, leaner and fairly focused finish, long. Served blind, quite surprised about what it was. I was on Chenin Blanc from Loire, about twenty years old. 92

1962 Château Laville Haut-Brion

NOV 11 Golden with orange hue. Dried fruits, nuts but quite oxidative and lacks freshness, tiring, lean and acidic. 83