Mission Haut Brion 2019

The wine in this vintage

2019 in Bordeaux was a warm, dry year, with some welcome late-summer rain and cool nights that preserved acidity: it produced concentrated yet elegant wines that critics compared to the great vintages of the recent past. La Mission Haut-Brion 2019 is one of its summits, with 99 points from Robert Parker. The bouquet is deep and multifaceted: cassis, blueberry, violet, graphite, sweet tobacco, spice and the classic cigar-box note of the Graves. On the palate it is dense, silky and harmonious, with an endless finish. Already seductive, it can be cellared with confidence for many decades.

The producer · Château La Mission Haut Brion

Château La Mission Haut-Brion is one of the summits of Pessac-Léognan and, for many enthusiasts, a First Growth in all but official classification. It lies in Talence, on the edge of Bordeaux, directly opposite Château Haut-Brion, with which it shares the famed deep gravel soils and a particularly favourable urban microclimate. Its name recalls the priests of the Congregation of the Mission, who owned the estate for more than a century before the Revolution. In the twentieth century the Woltner family made it legendary, renowned for powerful, long-lived wines; in 1983 it passed to Domaine Clarence Dillon, now led by Prince Robert of Luxembourg, which renewed vineyards and cellars under the technical direction of the Delmas family. The vineyard is planted with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. La Mission's style combines density and depth with the smoky, mineral signature of the Graves, and an ageing potential measured in decades.

Critics' scores

• 99 Robert Parker
• 17.5/20 Jancis Robinson

Technical details

Producer

Château La Mission Haut Brion

Region

Bordeaux

Country

Francia

Type

Rosso

Vintage

2019

When to drink

Hold, still evolving

Critics' average

99/100

Sizes

75 cl, Magnum 150 cl, Case of 6 × 75 cl

eWibe code

0230119