2016 Haut-Brion Blanc (Pessac-Leognan)

The Haut Brion 2016 Blanc is a blend of 70.5% Sauvignon Blanc and 29.5% Sémillon picked from 1-13 September. I found a little more complexity and mineralité here compared to the La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc this year, scents of chalk and lime flower complementing the citrus fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannin, notes of lime cordial, orange zest and grapefruit, almost flinty towards the finish that lingers long in the mouth with great vigor from start to finish. This is excellent, but not the best Haut Brion Blanc that I have tasted in recent years. 92-94 points

This opens very beautifully in the glass with a high level of aromatics, but just needs a few minutes to reveal these tight citrus peel and pink grapefruit flavours. Haut-Brion have navigated a tough year for whites far better then most, as you would expect. This has volume through the mid-palate and a well constructed, dancing minerality on the finish. 30% grand vin for the white, from a blend of 70.5% Sauvignon Blanc and 29.5% Sémillon aged in 35% new oak. 95 points

The 2016 Haut-Brion Blanc is rich, ample and captivatingly beautiful. A wine that fills every corner of the palate with its intensity and breadth, the 2016 represents one the few peaks of true excellence among the whites of the year. The blend is 69% Sauvignon and 31% Sémillon, but above all else, Haut-Brion Blanc is a wine of place. That is especially evident when tasting it next to the La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc, which is so clearly Sauvignon Blanc-dominated, whereas the Haut-Brion Blanc maintains a great deal of its own personality and signatures. In the glass, the 2016 is voluptuous, racy and impossible to resist. 93-96 points