2014 Château Haut Brion | Release 2025

The 2014 Haut-Brion is forward and intense on the nose. Blackberry mixes with cranberry fruit, incense and black olive compote, slightly ferrous and becoming spicier with aeration. It coheres very nicely in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, expressive and fleshy, and somewhat savory with cooked meats and brown spices on the finish. Impressive, but moving into the secondary phase. Tasted blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting. 

- Neal Martin (02/2024)

Deep garnet-brick in color, the 2014 Haut-Brion starts off with sluggish notes of pencil shavings and unsmoked cigars opening out to a core of classic scents of cassis, licorice, and plum preserves plus a waft of dried roses. The medium-bodied palate is tightly knit and refreshing, with fine-grained tannins to texture the lively black fruit layers, finishing energetic. 

- Tasted blind with the Southwold Group in London in February 2024.

Loaded with warm tar, singed juniper, plum reduction and cassis notes that are perfectly melded, giving this a remarkably supple edge. The finish lets tobacco, bay leaf and incense accents glide in. Shows lovely mouthfeel and superior refinement overall. Best from 2020 through 2035. 10,800 cases made. 

- James Molesworth (03/2017)

The 2014 Haut Brion is a blend of 50% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 39% Cabernet Sauvignon picked between 11 September and 10 October, cropped at 42.9 hectoliters per hectare and raised in 70% new oak. As I observed when I made the comparison in barrel, the Haut Brion exudes more red fruit than La Mission Haut Brion, adorned with wild strawberry, bilberry, tobacco and again, just that hint of menthol in the background. The palate is very fresh and taut on the entry. The acidity is very nicely pitched and there is a touch of marmalade and blood orange that is tangible at the back of the mouth. There is real frisson to this Haut Brion, not quite as seductive and as smooth as its sibling over the road, but very persistent in the mouth. I noticed that over 15 to 20 minutes that the Haut Brion just gained more and more complexity, putting a small distance between itself and La Mission, as if determined to mock my opinion in barrel that La Mission would have the upper hand! Be my guest. Haut Brion has an inch, just an inch ahead of its "rival" sibling. 

- Neal Martin (03/2017)