2020 | Chteau Les Carmes Haut-Brion | Pessac-Leognan

Red Wine: 2020 | Chteau Les Carmes Haut-Brion | Pessac-Leognan

The 2020 is the first modern vintage in which all the elements are so well balanced. Dark red/purplish fruit, rose petal, mint, lavender, dried herbs and incense all build in a ravishing Pessac-Lognan that will take your breath away.

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Producer: Chteau Les Carmes Haut-Brion

Ratings: WA | 97 JS | 98

Vintage: 2020

Size: 750ml

ABV: 13.5%

Varietal: Bordeaux Blend Red

Country/Region: France, Bordeaux

The 2020 is the first modern vintage in which all the elements are so well balanced. Dark red/purplish fruit, rose petal, mint, lavender, dried herbs and incense all build in a ravishing Pessac-Lognan that will take your breath away.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2020 Les Carmes Haut-Brion issues forth a beguiling array of savory scentsblack olives, charcuterie, bouquet garni and Sichuan pepperover a core of bright redcurrant jelly, black cherries and cassis scents, plus fragrant hints of rose petals and preserved mandarin peel. The medium-bodied palate is refreshing and elegantly styled yet with a rock-solid backbone of firm, finely grained tannins and bags of freshness, finishing long and perfumed. This is a stunning expression of the vintage that should be long lived and age with fantastic grace.

• James Suckling: Exotic fruit aromas of blackberry, blueberry, peach and orange peel. Its full-bodied with a vertical flow of layered, chewy tannins that are integrated and intense. Extremely polished and focused. Crushed stone to the fruit in the aftertaste. Some bark and forest flowers, too. Great potential.

Producer Information

Chteau Les Carmes Haut-Brion is a Bordeaux estate that was once part of the famed First Growth Chteau Haut-Brion. Situated in Pessac-Lognan, in the southwestern outskirts of Bordeaux town and on the “left bank” of the Garonne river, the vineyards and wines are Merlot and Cabernet Franc dominant with a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon an uncommon ratio for the commune. Located in the heart of the oldest part of Bordeaux, it is the only chteau located within the bounaries of Bordeaux and therefore, is one of the last enclosed urban vineyards of the region. In the 16th Century, Jean de Pontac owned the Haut-Brion property. The historically much larger grounds encompassed the estates of the modern Pessac-Lognan chteaux Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut-Brion, Laville Haut-Brion, La Tour Haut-Brion and Les Carmes Haut-Brion. The Les Carmes property was created when Pontac donated a mill and its surrounding property to a mission of the Carmelite Order in 1584. The Carmelites owned and tended the property for two centuries, recognized in the modern chteau’s name of Les Carmes. After the French Revolution, the estate was run by the Chantecaille-Furt family for generations. In 2010, Les Carmes was bought by Groupe Pichet, a Bordeaux real estate company, for roughly US$25 million a record-breaking price for the region at the time at more than US$5m per hectare. Under new ownership the property has been expanded significantly, from 4.7 to 29.6 hectares (12 to 73 acres), most of which is under vine. Planted almost evenly to Cabernet Franc and Merlot (39 and 41 percent, respectively), it has arguably the highest proportion of Cabernet Franc in any Pessac-Lognan vineyard. Soil types here are gravel dating from the Mindel glaciation on a clay-limestone bedrock. The estate produces a second wine, formerly called Clos de Carmes, now titled Le C des Carmes Haut-Brion. Prior to bottling, the wines are barrel-aged for 18 to 24 months in up to 30 percent new french oak. The estate employs famed Bordeaux winemaker Stphane Derenoncourt as a consultant.