2018 Château Haut-Brion La Clarté de Haut-Brion Blanc
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Body: full-bodied. Fuller than most white wines from ; 14% alcohol.
Acidity: fairly high. The temperate climate of .
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Log inThe spring of 2018 is characterized by regular storm rain. The vine develops a beautiful vegetative surface, but growth has been slowed by the violent disturbances of May 26. However, she recovers quickly. The month of June is mild, allowing uniform flowering. A hot summer followed, accompanied by rare precipitation. Veraison takes place under very good conditions. The anticyclone comes into effect in September. We harvest under a radiant sun, all grape varieties are picked at maturity, the health status is perfect.
La Clarté de Haut-Brion is the second wine of both Haut-Brion Blanc and La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc, produced from the released selections of both estates. The La Clarté de Haut-Brion 2018 is a blend of 79.2% Sémillon and 20.8% Sauvignon Blanc. The harvest took place from August 27 to September 5. The wine is aged on 58% new wood. It emerges from the glass with vibrant scents of fresh grapefruit, lemon zest and key lime pie, plus suggestions of paraffin wax, sea spray and straw. The medium to full flavor delivers thirst-quenching layers of citrus with a vibrant backbone and a decadent hint of creaminess to the texture.
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The Wine Advocate
RP (90-92)
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
The 2018 La Clarté de Haut-Brion is composed of 79.2% Sémillon and 20.8% Sauvignon Blanc, harvested August 27 to September 5. It comes bounding out of the glass with bold notions of warm pineapple, guava and peach juice plus hints of lanolin, honeysuckle, lime cordial and nutmeg. Medium to full-bodied with a lovely oily texture, it fills the mouth with exotic fruit, lifted by just enough freshness and culminating in a long, pineapple-laced finish.
Domaine Clarence Dillon pretty much nailed it across the board in 2018, from the first growth(s) in Pessac to the Saint-Émilion wines; to the more humbly priced, larger volume offerings; and even the whites, which were also tricky considering the heat. All the wines are ripe and seductive, true to what 2018 wanted to give as a vintage, and yet they possess bags of bright fruit, energy and freshness. “The first key to success this vintage was to start the first mildew treatment in the vineyards a little bit earlier than usual,” Deputy Managing Director Jean-Philippe Delmas of Domaine Clarence Dillon informed me. “If you did that, you were protected. If you didn’t, you had to constantly run after the disease. The second challenge was the date of the harvest—the date was finally quite late. The best solution was to wait to get ripeness but to pick before there was heaviness or the wines got too fat.”
I asked Delmas which he loved more this year, Cabernet or Merlot? “I loved everything,” he promptly replied. “And on the Right Bank, the Cabernet Franc was wonderful this year, which isn’t always the case. I would say Right Bank and Left Bank are the same for quality.”
Bravo team!
Published: Apr 23, 2019
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Vinous
(89-91)
From: Bordeaux 2018: Back in Black (Apr 2019)
The 2018 La Clarté de Haut-Brion soft, creamy and inviting. Lemon confit, orchard fruit, dried herbs and flowers all meld together in the Clarté, the Sémillon based white that is essentially the second white wine of both La Mission Haut-Brion and Haut-Brion. Supple and easygoing with impeccable balance, the Clarté is a delicious white that will offer plenty of enjoyment right out of the gate. This is very nicely done. The blend is 79.2% Sémillon and 20.8% Sauvignon Blanc.
- By Antonio Galloni on April 2019
“We have become used to seeing warm summers here,” Managing Director Jean-Philippe Delmas told me at Haut-Brion. “Even so, 2018 was the hottest summer we have ever seen, even hotter than 2003 or 2010. Fortunately, we had cool nights, which helped.” I found the wines from La Mission Haut-Brion a bit light, while Haut-Brion is unusually soft and lacking its characteristic aromatic intensity. It will be interesting to see what élevage brings to the wines of both properties.
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- Cru Classé de Graves (rouge)
- Premier Grand Cru Classé en 1855
Château Haut-Brion is located in the French municipality of Pessac, a few kilometers southwest of the city of Bordeaux. Haut-Brion is the oldest and historically the most colorful Gironde winery - it was here that the first Bordeaux was made from a single vineyard in the 17th century, first donated in London coffee houses and praised by many leading writers. In 1935, the winery was bought by Clarence Dillon, an American banker. He invested large sums in the renovation of the chai and the vineyard. In 1960, Haut-Brion became the first premier cru, replacing the wooden barrels with stainless steel tanks. In 1983, the Dillon family bought the adjacent Château la Mission Haut-Brion.
The vineyard covers an area of 51 hectares of which just over 48 hectares are planted with red grape varieties (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) and just under 3 hectares are dedicated to white grape varieties (Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc).
Deze 2018 La Clarté de Haut-Brion Blanc biedt een opwindende mix van rijp tropisch fruit zoals ananas en perzik, citruszest en limoensap, een zijdezachte, licht olieachtige textuur met florale en kruidige nuances van honing en nootmuskaat. Door die combinatie van rijke fruitigheid en frisse zuurgraad legt de wijn een brug tussen romige en ziltige smaken, waardoor hij uitstekend samengaat met gevogelte in romige sauzen, witte en vette vis, en schelp- en schaaldieren die baat hebben bij zowel frisheid als body; ook milde tot halfharde kazen komen mooi tot hun recht naast deze wijn. Bereidingen met een lichte citrusmarinade, beurre blanc of gestoofde prei, gegrilde of licht gekruide zalm en romige coquilles of kip in room- of champignonsaus versterken de harmonie het meest.
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