Château Haut-Brion Premier Cru Classé, Pessac Leognan, 2009

There are vintages that redefine what a property is capable of, and 2009 is that vintage for Haut-Brion. Robert Parker awarded it 100 points, a score that reflects what is, by any measure, one of the most extraordinary wines produced at this estate in modern memory. The perfume alone is a study in complexity: burning embers, unsmoked cigar tobacco, charcoal, black raspberry, wet gravel, plums, figs, and blueberries rise from the glass in a succession of aromatic revelations. The wine achieves a richness of texture that is almost uncanny, and yet the clarity and precision of the terroir are fully present. Unctuously textured, full-bodied, with stunning extract and remarkable aromatic complexity, this is a wine that requires at minimum a decade before it reveals its full measure. It should last half a century.