Château Haut-Brion Premier Cru Classé, Pessac Leognan, 2011

The 2013 vintage was among the more challenging in recent Bordeaux history, requiring patience and selectivity in the vineyard, and Haut-Brion's response was characteristically precise. The wine shows the estate's signature style with clarity: deep garnet in colour, with aromatics of dark cherry, cassis, and the subtle tobacco and earthy complexity that is the Haut-Brion hallmark. The palate is composed and firm, the tannins well-resolved for a wine of this youth relative to the vintage's demands, and the length is genuine. Not a wine of the scale or drama of the great years, but one that carries the estate's singular identity with complete conviction.