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2020 Château Les Carmes Haut Brion

Not Currently In Auction

Latest Sale Price

June 2, 2024 - $135

Estimate

RATINGS

100Vinous / IWC

...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-Léognan that will take your breath away.

98James Suckling

Gorgeous aromas of crushed berries with orange peel. Fresh spices. Flowers. Salty. Full and so bright and vivid, with an elegance and beauty at the beginning and then it goes on and on. You see the intense fine tannins at the end. Dusty and bright.

98Jeb Dunnuck

...textbook darker currant fruits, scorched earth, tobacco, lead pencil, and smoky, truffly nuances...medium to full-bodied richness, a graceful, layered, elegant mouthfeel, polished, fine grained tannins, and a gorgeous finish.

97The Wine Advocate

...aromas of blackberries, red fruits, exotic spices, rose petals, raw cocoa and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and layered, it's intensely flavored but weightless, with a compelling sense of harmony and a long, orange-inflected finish.

16.5+ Jancis Robinson

Interesting wine with real refreshment. Grainy, sinewy finish with no shortage of acidity.

PRODUCER

Château Les Carmes Haut Brion

Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion is a 12-acre estate in Pessac, in the Pessac-Leognan appellation of Bordeaux. It was founded in 1584, when a 101-year-old aristocrat decided to give part of his estate to a community of friars called Les Carmes. They owned the vineyard until the French Revolution and it is today owned by the La Patromoniale of Group Pichet, a large real estate concern. Vineyards are planted to 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The estate makes only about 4,000 bottles annually of its flagship Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion, and Robert M. Parker Jr. has called it “a tiny gem of an estate (that) offers superb wines…They owe their extraordinary finesse as well as explosive aromatics to their relatively high percentage of Cabernet Franc.”

REGION

France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

Pessac-Léognan was created in 1987 from the northern part of the left bank Graves appellation. Before then it was simply part of Graves, or sometimes it was called Haut-Graves. Unlike many other Bordeaux appellations, Pessac-Léognan is known for both red and dry white wines, although its reds are more famous. The appellation includes ten communes and the area’s most important châteaux, including Château Haut-Brion, the only non-Médoc estate included in the 1855 Bordeaux classification. There are 2,964 acres of vineyards in Pessac-Léognan and 16 classified growth estates. The main red grapes grown are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, along with a small amount of Cabernet Franc. White grapes grown are Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, with a little Muscadelle. Pessac-Léognan is considered to have the best terroir of the greater Graves region.