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Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan 2018

Reviews

100 -Jeb Dunnuck -

The 2018 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion is a rock star of a wine and is based on a unique blend of 37% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 29% Merlot that was brought up in 80% new French oak. Offering a deep ruby/purple color as well as a thrilling bouquet of blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, chocolate, violets, damp earth, and truffle, it hits the palate with a full-bodied yet almost understated, building style that carries ripe, supple tannins, gorgeous amounts of smoky black fruits, and an endearing, layered, multi-dimensional texture that keeps you coming back to the glass. A dead ringer for a great vintage of Haut-Brion, it is far from unapproachable today yet needs 7-8 years of bottle age for the fireworks to develop and will have 50-years or more of longevity! Hats off to Guillaume Pouthier for a magical, seamless, singular beauty!

97 -James Suckling -

The essence of black fruit here, offering blackberry and brambleberry aromas with dried flowers and licorice. Crushed stones and some iodine, as well as nuts. Full-bodied palate that opens and delivers an encompassing mouth feel of fine, creamy tannins. Some whole-berry fermentation. A special wine with elegance and complexity. Try after 2026, but already so in tune.

96+ -Robert Parker's Wine Advocate -

The 2018 Les Carmes Haut-Brion is composed of 37% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon and 29% Merlot. It was made using 52% whole cluster and has 13.75% alcohol. It was aged in 75% new oak barriques, 16% foudres and 9% amphorae. Deep garnet-purple in color, it needs a little coaxing before bursting from the glass with vibrant scents blackberry preserves, redcurrant jelly, mulberries and Black Forest cake, leading to an undercurrent of pencil lead, black truffles, cast-iron pan and charcoal with an emerging waft of violets. The elegantly crafted, medium-bodied palate dances with red and black fruits before bursting into earth and mineral sparks. It has a sturdy frame of firm, grainy tannins and bags of freshness, finishing long and savory. The stem tannins lend this wine a firmness and textural interest, which should integrate further with another 5-6 years in barrel, allowing the nuances to shine through even more, then you can continue to enjoy its slow evolution for a further 30+ years.

96 -Decanter -

The combination of silky-soft texture and powerful intensity of flavour is completely seductive. Violet aromas and deep, black fruit flavours dominate now. Whole-bunch fermentation for about half the grapes and a high percentage of Cabernet Franc gives the wine a unique profile. The growing season was tough, with spring hailstorms and mildew, and despite the hot, dry weather from June to harvest, this wine has a delicious freshness that will help it age brilliantly.

94 -Vinous -

The 2018 Les Carmes Haut-Brion was aged in 75% new oak with a touch more matured in foudres. It includes 55% whole bunches. This has a slight confit-like aroma on the nose, plush cranberry and wild strawberry intermingling with cassis and violet; aromatically, this is the more precocious recent vintage. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red fruit, fine tannins, clean and pure with excellent acidity keeping everything on an even keel towards the finish. The 2018 has a caressing texture and is very persistent. I might quibble and say that I just find the nose a little trop, but the palate is superb. Tasted at the Les Carmes Haut-Brion vertical at the château.

92 -Wine Spectator -

92-94 -Wine Enthusiast -

Technical Details

Blend 37% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot
Winemaker Guillaume Pouthier and Stéphane Derenoncourt
Country France
Region Bordeaux
Sub Region Graves
Appellation Pessac-Léognan
Vineyard Estate old vines, 43-years average age
Farming Method Organic, sustainable, and certified ISO 14001
Oak 80% new French oak, 11% foudres, and 9% terracotta amphorae
Fermentation All vats vinified without crushing, and partly by whole bunch fermentation. Fermented in a combination of temperature-controlled conical stainless steel tanks (60Hl), wooden tanks (76 Hl), and concrete tanks (50 Hl). Partial malolactic fermentation in barrel.
Aging / Cooperage 24 months in 80% new French oak, 11% foudres, and 9% terracotta amphorae
Alcohol 13.5%
Production 3200 cases

Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan 2018

Name: Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan 2018
Brand: First Bottle
SKU: 1002642
Price: 139.95 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

Bordeaux Blends | Bordeaux

JD100, JS97, WA96+, DC96, VN94, WS92, WE92-94

Organic, sustainable, and certified ISO 14001

$250.00

$139.95

750ML

44% OFF RETAIL!

Winemaker Guillaume Pouthier brought his Rhône playbook (i.e., whole-bunch fermentation) and loaded the blend with a wildly high 37% Cabernet Franc, backed by 34% Cabernet Sauvignon and 29% Merlot. A singular, boundary-pushing wine.

About The Producer

The story of Les Carmes Haut-Brion begins with the same Jean de Pontac who built Haut-Brion itself, who in 1584 donated a portion of his land — vineyards, meadows, and a water mill — to the Carmelite order, giving the estate both its name and its earliest chapter. The Carmelites tended the vines for over two centuries until the French Revolution forced the confiscation of church property, after which the estate passed through Bordeaux merchant hands before settling with the Chantecaille-Furt family for the better part of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 2010, real estate developer Patrice Pichet acquired the property and immediately set about a sweeping reinvention, bringing in Guillaume Pouthier (formerly technical director at Chapoutier in the Rhône) as winemaker and general manager, and commissioning a spectacular new winery designed by Philippe Starck and architect Luc Arsène-Henry — a structure that draws comparisons to a submarine and a dreadnought battleship, and stands as one of the most architecturally striking wine facilities in all of Bordeaux. The 4.7-hectare vineyard is the only one in the world to hold vines within the commune of Bordeaux itself, planted to roughly equal parts Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Pouthier introduced whole-cluster fermentation techniques unusual for Pessac-Léognan, and the results have been dramatic: Les Carmes Haut-Brion has become one of the most closely watched and critically acclaimed unclassified estates in the entire Bordeaux region.

$250.00

$139.95

750ML

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