France

Cabernet Sauvignon

Merlot

Cabernet Franc

Petit Verdot

Chateau Les Carmes Haut-Brion

Chateau Les Carmes Haut-Brion Pessac-Leognan

Bordeaux

Pessac-Léognan

Lakris, cigar, ceder, jord, sopp, plomme, blyantspiss.

Frisk slank kropp med elegante tanniner. God syre.

Sommelier

Deep garnet-purple colored. Slowly unfurls to reveal classic Franc notes of red currant jelly, fresh blackberries, and pencil shavings, followed by hints of rose oil, fragrant soil, and crushed rocks. The light to medium-bodied palate shimmers with electric red and black berry flavors, framed by firm, grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing on a lingering ferrous note. Nice!

by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

A blend of 50% Cabernet Franc, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 20% Merlot, Les Carmes Haut-Brion 2023 has a pH of 3.62. It was fermented with 60% whole bunches and it is aging in 70% new oak barrels, 20% new oak vats of 18 hl, and 10% amphorae. It has an opaque purple-black color and needs a little swirling and coaxing to bring out fabulously pure, well-defined notes of juicy black cherries, blackcurrant pastilles, ripe juicy blackberries, and licorice, leading to hints of tar, peonies, wet slate, and black olives, with a touch of Sichuan pepper. The light to medium-bodied palate is airy and refreshing, with a solid backbone of very fine-grained, prancing tannins and bold freshness supporting the pristine black fruit flavors, finishing long and minerally. I had to spend a good 15 minutes with this wine to allow it to grow: it is incredibly tight to begin but expands to become something powerful. A beguiling 2023 with fully ripe black fruit characters and a paradoxical airiness, it really makes your head spin in the best possible way!

Cabernet franc perfeksjon! Nydelig balanse og kompleksitet. Gåsehud

Amateur

A blend of 45% Cabernet Franc, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 20% Merlot, Les Carmes Haut-Brion 2021 has a pH of 3.6. 55% whole bunches were used and it spent two years in barrel, which is four months longer than usual. It has an opaque garnet-purple color and it bursts from the glass with vivacious notes of redcurrant jelly, black cherry preserves, and black raspberries, followed by hints of garrigue, wild thyme, cast-iron pan, and dusty soil, with a touch of roses. The medium-bodied palate delivers intense red and black fruit layers, with a sturdy frame of tightly knit, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing on a lingering ferrous note. With a structure and intensity like this, it should age slowly over the next 30-40 years+, which is an anomaly for this generally earlier drinking vintage.

Inky plum colour, violet and peony aromatics followed up by orange zest and pencil lead on the opening beats. Just so much depth, quality and characte, chalky tannins are softening just enough to show the form of the fruit bneath, giving a sense of architecture and form. Sculpted blue and black fruits appear as things expand through the mid palate, with crushed mint leaf and mouthwatering oyster shell on the finish. The flavours evolve and the character emerges the longer you linger over this glass, and it's an excellent vintage of Carmes, with sculpted delicous fruits. 3.58ph, 55% whole cluster, 80% new oak, 10% foudres, 10% amohora for ageing.

Inside Bordeaux

Expert

Les Carmes Haut-Brion 2018 has a deep garnet purple color. It offers notes of prunes, stewed red and black cherries, and crème de cassis, with hints of Chinese five spice and tobacco. Full-bodied, rich, and velvety, the palate has a lively backbone and a long, spicy finish.

Elegant og spicy. Solbær, svarte kirsebær, tobakk, lær og lakris. Luftes godt 🌬

Amatør

Subdued power with cassis and blackberry fruits, liqourice root, cocoa beans and a wall of tannins that retains an air of controlled restraint at 6 years old. Maintains momentum and energy through the palate,with a saline lick of crushed rocks on the finish. This is sculpted, moreish, delicious. As with the 2015, a vintage again that Carmes has its own personality, and doesn't follow the pack. New winery, with softer infusion-method for the extraction of flavours and tannins, and 60% stems. Ageing takes place in a mix of 25% new oak, 5% oak casks, and 10% amphoras.

The succulent depth and width to this wine is clear as soon as your nose hovers over the glass. Concentrated tannins hum underneath a more sculpted aerian side of fragrant peonies and raspberry leaf that take off through the palate. This was a warm vintage and we are on a warm site here, and yet you feel a freshness, with crushed mint leaf and juicy cranberry that belies the vintage and speaks to deft winemaking. This is the point at which Carmes begins to fully take on its own personaity that is not necessarily reflective of the appellation as a whole. 3.7ph, 40% new oak.

Medium to deep garnet-brick in color, the 2014 Les Carmes Haut-Brion opens with evolved notes of espresso, new leather, and black tea leaves plus an undercurrent of raisin cake and Chinese five spice. The medium-bodied palate delivers lingering notions of dried black fruits with dried herbs accents and a powdery texture, finishing savory.

Soft raspberry and smoked earth notes on the nose, this has a lilting freshness but doesn't build momentum through the palate. Give it time to work its charms, as there is an attractive slate texture to the tannins, and a juicy salinity on the close of play. They have done a great job within the vintage, but there is just not the depth or intensity of fruit to really carry this forward longterm - drink now and over the next five to 8 years to make the most of these raspberry and blueberry fruits. 30% new oak, 30% whole bunch fermentation, amphora introduced as of this vintage for a small amount of the ageing.

The first year with Guillaume Pouthier as technical director, and (not coincidentally) the first where stems were being introduced into the winemaking process (they went straight in with 30%). A richer, more gourmet vintage than 2011 generally, and you feel it - certainly there is no indication that using stems is making the wine less concentrated, as this has a significantly more precision and punch than the 2011, and for me is more successful. Sappy juice runs through the plate, along with raspberry, red cherry and blackberry fruits, creamy brioche through the mid palate, with smoked cedar and campfire. Fresh acidities on the finish and a tingle of minerality perhaps give a hint of something different happening in the winemaking. 3.65ph, 40% new oak.

Very different in style from the 2010, this has less breadth through the palate, touches of rose stems and angular tannins, really a signature of Carmes Haut-Brion in these earlier years. Smoked earth and tobacco alongside blueberry and raspberry fruits. This has finesse and grace, and can be drunk now with a carafe. 3.59ph. First year with the new owner Patrice Pichet.

Inky depths to the fruit and the colour. Touches of iodine and tar, grilled oak impact, together with impressive texture and expansion through the palate that showcases cassis and bilberry fruits along with curls of espresso and black chocolate. This is at the begining of its drinking window, but has a long life ahead. 3.7ph, higher than you find typically today but still plenty of grip. 40% new oak.

Sit back and enjoy the waves of tobacco, charcoal, cigar box, Asian spices, mandarin peel and softened autumnal fruit. A little more old-school dusty tannins that in the current era of Carmes Haut-Brion but this is attractive with firm structure, balance, acidity, weight and plenty of character. Moreish and easy to recommend. 30% new oak.

Impressive concentration aromatically, with sweet black cherry fruit, chargrilled oak, plenty of character. A little disappointing on the palate, with wet leaves, autumnal black fruits that lose power through the finish. There is plenty of attractive black pepper and truffle spice, and the ecualyptus notes on the finish give a kick, but it lacks the clarity of expression that you find in more recent years of Carmes. Made at the time by Penelope Chantecaille-Furt, whose family had owned Carmes since the French Revolution. 3.6ph. 30% new oak.

Russet red, beginning to lose its vibrancy, this is very much classic old school Carmes that has a sense of grace and movement. Still plenty of fresh edges, with tobacco leaf, smoked earth and pureed, saffron-dusted raspberry fruits. 3.75ph.

A touch of volatile acidity combined with ripe fruits gives an exuberant, almost port-like feel to this wine. An exceptional vintage, and it may simply be bottle variation, but you will find 1959 Bordeaux that have more grip and succulence at this point.

Amazingly youthful, this has cold ash, smoke, campfire, the barest hint of brambled fruits and finely spun tannins. The 1949 vintage saw the hottest summer since 1929, and you have a good chance of finding wines that are still going strong. This is one of them. Scores are meaningless for wines this age, but this is full of gentle pleasure. No record of exact blend, but Cabernet Franc was dominant in the vineyard at this point (before being brought down in favour of Merlot, and then replanted).

Category	Red wine
Vinmonopolet no.
Producer	Chateau Les Carmes Haut-Brion
Vintages	1994
Country	France, Bordeaux, Pessac-Léognan
Bottle	75 cl

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Acid	%
Sugar	g/l

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