There has been no more striking Bordeaux success story over the last decade than the soaring profile of Carmes Haut-Brion. Carmes is a small property on superb terroir within the Bordeaux city limits, near Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion. It was owned by Carmelite friars (hence ‘Carmes’) until the French revolution. For the next 230 years it passed quietly through various branches of the Chantecailles-Furt family, until the modern era arrived dramatically in 2011 when it was acquired by real estate investor Patrice Pichet. Guillaume Pouthier is a brilliant estate manager who has dramatically innovated, and consultant Stephane Derenoncourt has been overseeing the transition to biodynamic viticulture. The Pichet group has poured investment in. The vineyards have been expanded through some shrewd purchasing. The new winery, completed in time for the 2015 harvest, was designed by Philippe Starck to suggest the hull of a ship and is surrounded by water, evoking the importance of waterborne commerce in the history of Bordeaux.

The winemaking here is all about precision viticulture. Vats are in wood, steel and concrete, in an array of sizes. The ageing process is split 70/30 between new oak barrels and clay amphorae.

It can sometimes be hard when tasting en primeur to keep track of the differences – but Carmes Haut-Brion is always unlike anything else we taste. There are two fundamental reasons. One is the highest proportion of Cabernet Franc anywhere on the Left Back, with the unusual proportions in the vineyard of 45% Cabernet Franc/30% Merlot/25% Cabernet Sauvignon. The other is the fact that in any given vintage they use a very significant proportion of whole cluster fermentation. This technique involves not destemming grapes, so entire bunches with stems go into the fermentation vats. It’s common to meet this technique and find its distinctive aromatic signature in Burgundy, but a shock to find it in Bordeaux, commingled with the aromas of Cabernet and Merlot. Using stems increases the amount of vat space required by up to 30%. That can be just about manageable in an area like Burgundy, where wineries are operating on a much smaller scale, but in Bordeaux the extra demands on space could be huge. Carmes Haut-Brion is likely to continue to be a brilliant outlier. (NT 05/08/25)