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Jean Philippe Delmas and his team at Clarence Dillon estates have quite simply nailed the 2025 vintage. This is another superlative wine from the family stable. Floral spring aromas, with further scents of violet and lavender and early summer fruits. Charming and graceful in the palate, with a velvety texture, the tannins are suede-like in style and quality, giving rounded depth and a refined density. It builds and builds as the deeper darker berry flavours evolve. Fleshy and juicy, exuding joy and happiness and thankfully the flavours rest in the mouth for an eternity as it reaches for perfection.
The 2025 La Mission Haut-Brion was picked from August 28 until September 19 at around 23 hl/ha, lower than Haut-Brion, perhaps due to higher density of planting and less competition between vines. There is less new oak, at around 59%, the same as Haut-Brion, down from around 80% in recent years. This has a perfumed bouquet, one of the most floral that I can recall, beautifully defined with black cherries, blueberry and crushed violet scents. The palate is medium-bodied with chiselled tannins, a silver thread of acidity, quite linear in style with a strict, tensile, graphite-tinged finish. Yeah, it has to play second fiddle to Haut-Brion this year, but it is still a great La Mission. 13.6% alcohol. Drink 2035-2065
A blend of 58.3% Merlot, 38.3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3.4% Cabernet Franc, the 2025 La Mission Haut-Brion reveals a refined bouquet of smoky cassis, dark berries, spices and lead pencil, framed by a deft touch of new oak. Medium- to full-bodied, dense and layered, it’s built around a multidimensional core of fruit underpinned by fine, velvety tannins, concluding with a long, perfumed and precise finish. Combining depth with energy, it delivers a textural yet controlled expression of power, with a real sense of freshness. The result is a particularly faithful, charming rendition of La Mission, defined by its elegance and overall precision.
The 2025 La Mission Haut-Brion is one of my early favorites in this vintage. Aromatic and vibrant, with striking purity, the Grand Vin is magnificent. Red-toned fruit, blood orange, pomegranate, mint and cinnamon soar from the glass. Beams of supporting tannin lend energy and shape. In a word: compelling. One of the wines of the vintage. Drink 2035-2075.
Unusually fragrant and floral at this early stage. Lovely texture, the tannins smooth and refined, cushioned by the ripe fruit. Plenty of power behind, though, and a mouth-watering freshness to the long, powerful finish. Focused and spot-on. Drink 2035-2055
Jean Philippe Delmas and his team at Clarence Dillon estates have quite simply nailed the 2025 vintage. This is another superlative wine from the family stable. Floral spring aromas, with further scents of violet and lavender and early summer fruits. Charming and graceful in the palate, with a velvety texture, the tannins are suede-like in style and quality, giving rounded depth and a refined density. It builds and builds as the deeper darker berry flavours evolve. Fleshy and juicy, exuding joy and happiness and thankfully the flavours rest in the mouth for an eternity as it reaches for perfection.
Signature finesse coupled with clear intensity and concentration, muscular with a juicy frame and crushed red rose petals on the finish. Huge ageing potential, this stretches out through the palate and delivers finesse and hidden power. 69% 1st wine. 27hl/ha yield. Harvest August 27 to September 19. 59% new oak. 3.73ph
Stretching from the rather unglamorous southern suburbs of Bordeaux, for 50 km along the left bank of the river Garonne, lies Graves. Named for its gravelly soil, a relic of Ice Age glaciers, this is the birthplace of claret, despatched from the Middle Ages onwards from the nearby quayside to England in vast quantities. It can feel as though Bordeaux is just about red wines, but some sensational white wines are produced in this area from a blend of sauvignon blanc, Semillon and, occasionally, muscadelle grapes, often fermented and aged in barrel. In particular, Domaine de Chevalier is renowned for its superbly complex whites, which continue to develop in bottle over decades. A premium appellation, Pessac-Leognan, was created in 1987 for the most prestigious terroirs within Graves. These are soils with exceptional drainage, made up of gravel terraces built up in layers over many millennia, and consequently thrive in mediocre vintages but are less likely to perform well in hotter years. These wines were appraised and graded in their own classification system in 1953 and updated in 1959, but, like the 1855 classification system, this should be regarded with caution and the wines must absolutely be assessed on their own current merits.
