12 bottles per lot
Details
Château Haut-Brion--Vintage 1991
Pessac (Graves), 1er cru classé
A year that will stay engraved in our memory as the year of the late spring frost; a terrible frost ravaged the vines during the night of the 20th of April (the cold persisted all night and in certain vineyards the temperature went down as far as -7 degrees Celsius). The buds, that were already well in advance, were totally destroyed and it was not until the end of May that the vines recovered their normal growth, causing different stages in their evolution. July and August were hot and dry. During the vintage, it was hot and wet.
Tasting note:
This wine has turned out far better than I ever expected. It started off life relatively austere, closed, and tannic, and seemed a bit light, but the wine has put on weight (as so many vintages of Haut-Brion tend to do), and now shows a very complex nose of cigar tobacco intermixed with scorched earth, sweet cherry and black currant fruit, and some high quality toast. The wine is medium-bodied and a great example of finesse, elegance, and just brilliant winemaking in a vintage where the odds were stacked against even a great terroir such as Haut Brion. Anticipated maturity: Now-2007. 89 points. Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book, 4th Edition # B5 (Jan 2003).
12 bottles per lot
Pessac (Graves), 1er cru classé
A year that will stay engraved in our memory as the year of the late spring frost; a terrible frost ravaged the vines during the night of the 20th of April (the cold persisted all night and in certain vineyards the temperature went down as far as -7 degrees Celsius). The buds, that were already well in advance, were totally destroyed and it was not until the end of May that the vines recovered their normal growth, causing different stages in their evolution. July and August were hot and dry. During the vintage, it was hot and wet.
Tasting note:
This wine has turned out far better than I ever expected. It started off life relatively austere, closed, and tannic, and seemed a bit light, but the wine has put on weight (as so many vintages of Haut-Brion tend to do), and now shows a very complex nose of cigar tobacco intermixed with scorched earth, sweet cherry and black currant fruit, and some high quality toast. The wine is medium-bodied and a great example of finesse, elegance, and just brilliant winemaking in a vintage where the odds were stacked against even a great terroir such as Haut Brion. Anticipated maturity: Now-2007. 89 points. Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book, 4th Edition # B5 (Jan 2003).
12 bottles per lot