Chateau Haut Brisson 2023

JAMES SUCKLING: "Another very focused 2023 St.-Emilion with berry, chocolate and earth notes. It’s medium- to full-bodied with a solid core of fruit and a bright, vivid and very long finish. Well-integrated tannins. This is one to watch. 95% merlot and 5% cabernet franc. Better than 2022."

JEB DUNNUCK: "Another killer Saint-Emilion, the 2023 Château Haut-Brisson is deep purple-hued, with a mineral-laced style in its ripe black fruits, violets, spicy wood, and graphite-driven aromas and flavors. It's a broad, ripe, seamless, full-bodied, weightless 2023 that has the vintage’s ethereal, weightless style, and it's a gorgeous wine in the making."

WEINWISSER: "95 % Merlot, 5 % Cabernet Franc, pH 3.6, 28 hl/ha, 14.5 Vol.-%. Opulentes blaubeeriges Bouquet, Sandelholz, heller Tabak und edle Cassiswürze. Am kompakten Gaumen mit engmaschigem Tanningerüst, stützender Mineralität, unterlegter Rasse und mittlerem straffem Körper. Im gebündelten Finale blaubeerige Konturen, Graphit und körnige Adstringenz. Dieser St.-Émilion konnte mich vollends überzeugen und kann noch zulegen."

VINUM: "Verführerischer Duft, expressiv, mit Brombeergelee und Cassis; delikat am Gaumen, was für ein zauberhaftes Fruchtbündel; kreidiges Tannin, sehr gute Säure; im Abgang saftig, lang, frisch. Ein niveauvoller Wein für alle Tage."

FALSTAFF: "Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, dezenter Ockerrand. Zart floral, etwas Hibiskus, Nuancen von Veilchen, schwarze Herzkirschen, kandierte Mandarinenzesten sind unterlegt. Mittlere Komplexität, Brombeeren, Cassis, etwas spröde Tannine, die fordern, dezente Süße, mineralischer Nachhall, ein würziger Speisenbegleiter."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "The core of flowers, herbs, cherries, and spice fill the nose and the medium-bodied palate. The soft-textured mid-palate, and finish delivers its bright, spicy, red fruits with a refined, refreshing, minty edge. You can enjoy this with pleasure just about on release, or age it for more complexity. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied, forward, soft, and fruity, with a chalky nuance in the plummy finish. The wine blends 95% Merlot with 5% Cabernet Franc. Drink from 2027-2038."

DECANTER: "After frost in 2021 and 2022, this estate came back in form this year, albeit with some Merlots from a lower section of the vineyard stricken by especially rapacious mildew. After careful sorting, the end result is a wine that exudes pleasing aromas of fresh red fruit and plum and palate tonicity with a medium finish. There are some austere tannins, however, which the barrel ageing should soften."