Chateau Les Carmes Haut Brion 2018

  • 100 Jeb
    Dunnuck
  • 98 Wine
    Spectator
  • 98 Decanter
  • 97 James
    Suckling
  • 96 Robert
    Parker
  • 94 Wine
    Enthusiast
4.3 Very Good (6)
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Chateau Les Carmes Haut Brion  2018  Front Bottle Shot
Chateau Les Carmes Haut Brion  2018  Front Bottle Shot Chateau Les Carmes Haut Brion  2018  Front Label

Product Details


Varietal

Region

Producer

Vintage
2018

Size
750ML

Features
Collectible

Your Rating

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Somm Note

Winemaker Notes

Blend: 37% Cabernet Franc, 34% Merlot, and 29% Cabernet Sauvignon

Professional Ratings

  • 100

    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 tannin's, 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!

  • 98
    This throws off a stream of cassis, cherry preserves and raspberry fruit that is pure and bright, laced with a racy mineral edge through the finish. Stands apart from the pack for its purity and finesse. Really beautiful.
    Barrel Sample: 95-98
  • 98

    A beautiful nuance of salty caramel is clear even on the nose. On the palate, the concentration and focus is immediately clear, uplifted by touches of gentle salinity. There is really a sense of place and of being itself which I always love about this wine. It's closed of course, but with an unrolling of sappy black fruits, and a freshness that gives you confidence in its future. So much pleasure to be had here, with notes of chocolate, peony and liquorice. Extremely successful, as it was en primeur. 3.62pH. 53% whole-bunch fermentation. IPT95. Harvested 13-28 September. Ageing is mostly in large oak casks, 76% new, plus 9% aged in amphorae.

    Drinking Window 2026 - 2044

  • 97

    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

    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.  Rating : 96+

  • 94
    This wine has bold, ripe black fruits and fine acidity. Its structure shows well through the fruitiness of the wine. This will certainly age well.
    Barrel Sample: 92-94

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Chateau Les Carmes Haut Brion

Chateau Les Carmes Haut Brion

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Chateau Les Carmes Haut Brion, France
Shortly before he shuffled off his mortal coil, at the age of 101, Jean de Pontac, Lord of the Manor of Haut-Brion, considered he had to earn his seat in heaven.

In 1584, he therefore donated a water-mill, surrounded by meadows and wines, to the Carmelites of Haut-Brion.

The Friars kept the name "Haut-Brion" for 200 years, before common usage gradually changed it into "Carmes Haut-Brion".

It was bought at the beginning of the last century by Léon Colin, a wine negociant in Bordeaux and a direct ancestor of the current owners, the Chantecaille-Furt family.

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One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.

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Pessac-Leognan Wine

Bordeaux, France

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Recognized for its superior reds as well as whites, Pessac-Léognan on the Left Bank claims classified growths for both—making it quite unique in comparison to its neighboring Médoc properties.

Pessac’s Chateau Haut-Brion, the only first growth located outside of the Médoc, is said to have been the first to conceptualize fine red wine in Bordeaux back in the late 1600s. The estate, along with its high-esteemed neighbors, La Mission Haut-Brion, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pique-Caillou and Chateau Pape-Clément are today all but enveloped by the city of Bordeaux. The rest of the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan are in clearings of heavily forested area or abutting dense suburbs.

Arid sand and gravel on top of clay and limestone make the area unique and conducive to growing Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc as well as the grapes in the usual Left Bank red recipe: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and miniscule percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.

The best reds will show great force and finesse with inky blue and black fruit, mushroom, forest, tobacco, iodine and a smooth and intriguing texture.

Its best whites show complexity, longevity and no lack of exotic twists on citrus, tropical and stone fruit with pronounced floral and spice characteristics.

FCA520580_2018 Item# 520580

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