Château La Mission Haut-Brion, 2020
Château La Mission Haut-Brion, 2020
- 75cl
- 14.5%
- Red Still
- Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc
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Optimal drinking window: 2030 - 2065
This wine is offered in individual wooden cases
La Mission Haut-Brion sits directly across the road from its more famous neighbour, yet it has never played second fiddle — not really. This is Pessac-Léognan at its most serious: a wine of iron, smoke, and extraordinary depth that comes from some of the finest gravel over clay soils in all of Graves.
The 2020 vintage was a genuinely great year in Bordeaux, warm and concentrated but with enough freshness to keep everything taut, and La Mission made the most of it. Cabernet Sauvignon leads, with Merlot and a whisper of Cabernet Franc providing weight and perfume.
What the critics say:
"The 2020 La Mission Haut-Brion is a brilliant effort that exhibits a level of balance and integration that are impressive in such a powerful young Bordeaux. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with burning embers, pencil shavings, violets and smoked black tea, it's full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a layered, elegantly muscular profile, its brooding core of fruit framed by a generous endowment of powdery tannin that tempers the ripeness of the vintage. Checking in at 14.7% alcohol, it's nonetheless more classically styled than the more flamboyant 2019 vintage or even the slowly maturing 2010 which I re-tasted alongside for context."
"Lastly, the Grand Vin 2020 Château La Mission Haut-Brion is cut from the same cloth as the La Chapelle, only it brings more of everything. Black raspberries, cassis, ripe cherries, sandalwood, smoked tobacco, and acacia flowers are just some of its nuances, and this beauty hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a layered, seamless, sexy mouthfeel, remarkable tannins, and a great, great finish. The level of purity, finesse, and elegance, paired with incredible concentration, is something to behold. Give bottles just 5-7 years in the cellar and enjoy over the following half a century. The blend is 48.6% Merlot, 43.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc, hitting a natural alcohol of 14.7%."
The vineyards of La Mission Haut-Brion lie in the commune of Pessac, almost within the city limits of Bordeaux, on a deep bed of warm Günzian gravel over clay and iron-rich subsoil. The gravel drains rapidly and retains heat, giving the grapes a long, even ripening season, while the iron-rich clay beneath adds the characteristic mineral, almost metallic quality that distinguishes Pessac-Léognan from Médoc estates just a short drive north. The urban heat island effect of Bordeaux city itself means this corner of Graves consistently ripens slightly earlier and more fully than the broader appellation.
Pessac-Léognan was carved out of the broader Graves appellation in 1987, taking in the communes closest to Bordeaux city and all of the Cru Classé de Graves estates. The appellation is notable for producing both serious red wines — dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot — and distinctive whites from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, though it is the reds that command the greatest attention and prices. Where Pauillac or Saint-Julien tend toward cassis and pencil shavings, Pessac-Léognan reds have a distinctive smoky, earthy, almost mineral quality — iron and gravel embedded in the fruit — that sets them apart from anything else in Bordeaux.
The 2020 Bordeaux vintage began with one of the wettest winters on record, followed by a scorching summer that nearly broke temperature records across the region. What could have been a disaster became salvation: those deep winter water reserves carried the vines through the heat, while the dry conditions from July onwards concentrated flavours beautifully. The harvest started early and moved quickly, with most châteaux picking under ideal September skies.
We find 2020 Bordeaux surprisingly charming for such a hot year - the wines show ripe, generous fruit without the baked character you might expect. The Merlot-based Right Bank wines are particularly successful, displaying plush damson and blackberry flavours with enough freshness to keep them lively. Cabernet Sauvignon on the Left Bank delivers power and concentration, though some properties struggled more than others with the heat. Most 2020s are drinking beautifully now - this isn't a vintage that demands decades of patience, and we rather like that about it.
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Château La Mission Haut Brion
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