This picture is taken from the top of the cellar at LCHB - (Copyright Izak Litwar)
Les Carmes Haut Brion's spectacular cellar - (Copyright Giorgio Bocoshvili)
Les Carmes Haut Brion can trace its roots back to the 16th century. For over 200 years, it was owned by Carmelite order. During the French Revolution, the state was confiscated and sold in 1840 to Bordeaux wine merchant Leon Colin. Since then, the Chantecaille-Furt family has been the owners until 2010, when Pichet Real Estate Group purchased it. In 2012, the new owner brought a well-qualified winemaker/director to Les Carmes Haut Brion to improve quality dramatically. Guillaume Pouthier arrived at Carmes Haut Brion from the same position at a famous producer in Rhone, Chapoutier.
From the start, he's introduced a unique technique, which winemakers frequently use in Rhone. Instead of already sorted grapes in vats, whole bunches of grapes are placed before fermentation and maceration. This technique should add more freshness, flavors, and aromas to the wine. It was introduced for the first time at Les Carmes in the 2012 vintage.
There were raised eyebrows among winemakers in Bordeaux when Guillaume Pouthier started to use it, but gradually, this technique spread out in Bordeaux. Under his direction, Les Carmes Haut Brion has more stability, precision, focus, finesse, and sophisticated touch.
Cabernet Franc is vinified in wood, Cabernet Sauvignon in concrete vats, and Merlot in stainless steel vats. There's also a second wine here, Le C des Carmes Haut Brion, mainly from the vineyard in Martillac.
This property is located within the city limits of Bordeaux, even closer to the town itself than Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion are. The surroundings are beautiful, with a lake, a large park, and an old bridge. After several additions, there are now around 29 hectares of vineyard with 35-year-old vines planted with 55% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. In addition to that, a state-of-the-art cellar, looking like an upside-down boat, was ready for use in 2016.
LCHB uses more Cabernet Franc in the blend than any other property at Left Bank, more than 1/3. Because the vineyard is situated so close to Bordeaux, the temperature is always 2-3 degrees higher here. This also means the harvest starts early (1-2 weeks before the properties outside Bordeaux).
Les Carmes Haut Brion manager Guillaume Pouthier is aiming high, very high!
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LCHB 2023 (barrel sample) 97-99p
Tasted in April 2024. 50% Cabernet Franc, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot. 13.5% alcohol. This wine is different from the powerful 2022 version, displaying tenderness, delicacy, finesse, and elegance. Still, its aromatic profile is intact, with fragrant morello cherries and blackcurrants. It's savory, vibrant, and sophisticated on the palate, with a very long aftertaste. It is almost as thrilling as its one-year-old brother.
LCHB 2022 (barrel sample) 98-100p
Tasted in April 2023. 40% C. Franc, 34% C. Sauvignon and 26% Merlot. 13.5% alcohol. 70% whole bunches to keep ABV down! An intense mix of black cherries and blackcurrants spiced up with roses, minerality, vibrant, great structure, a strong backbone, incredibly sensual, sophisticated, and many layers. A strong candidate to compete for the wine of the vintage!
LCHB 2021 (barrel sample) 95p
Tasted in April 2022. 40% C. Franc, 35% C. Sauvignon and 23% Merlot. 13.5% alcohol. An intense mix of black cherries and morello ones added some violets, crushed rocks, tension, vibrant, finely-grained tannin, splendid complexity, and a well-structured and persistent finish. Fabulous stuff.
LCHB 2020 99p
Tasted twice - last time in April 2023. Consistent notes. 40% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon and 26% Merlot. 55% of whole grape bunches were included in vinification. 13.65% alcohol. 80% new oak, 11% foudres and 9% amphoras. The nose was a paradise of fragrances, and the palate was a paradise of tastes. When you find spectacular complexity, sophisticated touch, liquid cashmere, and seamless structure in this wine, the result is true perfection! 2020 is the best vintage Guillaume Pouthier has ever produced at LCHB; that's it! It was not running at full speed when tasted in April 2023. Bottling occurred in February 2023, and the wines tasted disjointed. 98p.
LCHB 2019 99p
Tasted in July 2022 (Copenhagen). It was my first encounter with this wine – I couldn’t taste it in Bordeaux from the barrel in April 2020.
50% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot. This wine was certainly worth the wait! It was an incredible thrill from start to finish. In the beginning, this wine was a paradise of aromas and fragrances. On the nose, it overwhelmed you with cascades of freshly cut black cherries and blackcurrants. The palate offered a striking attitude, seamless structure, cashmere-clad texture, vibrancy, sophisticated touch, and fantastic complexity. After half an hour in the glass, this wine started becoming typical of the Pessac-Leognan district with its shellfish scent, saltiness, and smokiness, without losing one ounce of energy, vitality, or fruit. It is a genuinely epic wine, and what a pair it will make with the 2020 version!
LCHB 2018 98+p
Tasted three times - last time in December 2020. Consistent notes. Ridiculously sublime. It combines perfect power and elegance with riveting richness, complexity, and length: grilled bacon and cigar box. There's more Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend (34%); usually, there's 20%. Less Merlot, 29% (usually 41%), but Cabernet Franc is about the same, 37% versus 39%. 13.75% alcohol, 75% new oak, 16% wooden vats, 9% terracotta amphoras, and 50% whole bunches used in vinification. It is the best vintage Guillaume Pouthier has ever produced at LCHB!
LCHB 2017 95-96p
Tasted three times - last time in October 2019. Consistent notes. This property didn't experience frost in April 2017 as the vineyard is well sheltered, and the temperature here is always 2-3 degrees higher than in the country. 41% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot and 29% Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a stellar, very aromatic, fruity wine with a silky texture, elegance, and fruity finish. It's a real heartbreaker wine. Here, 40% of whole bunches were going into barrels. 75% new oak, 15% two years old foudres, and 10% amphoras were used for aging.
LCHB 2016 96+p
Tasted four times - last time in October 2018. Consistent notes. 41% C.Franc + 39% Merlot + 20% C.Sauvignon. 13.8% alcohol, IPT = 82. 70% new oak + 20% 1 year old barrels + 10% amphoras. Thick aromatic nose with blueberries, very concentrated yet refined, incredibly complex, precise, and focused. It has an impressively long finish. Certainly, a wine to compete with big guns in this vintage!
LCHB 2015 95+p
Tasted four times - last time in October 2018. Consistent notes. 44% C.Franc + 32% Merlot + 24% C.Sauvignon, 14% alcohol, IPT = 75. 80% new oak + 10% one year old barrels, + 10% amphoras. This wine had a beautifully scented (rosebush perfume) nose, refined and intense; you could feel/taste the wine's precision, purity, and length. More concentrated than in recent vintages. Impressive stuff, which will be even better in the future .
LCHB 2014 93p
Tasted four times - last time in November 2021. Consistent notes. 55% C. Franc (!) + 15% C.Sauvignon + 30% Merlot. 75% new oak, 15% big oak barrels, + 10% amphoras. Consistent notes. It is an aromatic, well-composed wine with finesse and a caressing fruity finish. Fine acidity, balance, and complexity. Cool climate vintage and a classic Bordeaux one.
LCHB 2012 93p
Tasted in September 2015. 40% Merlot, 40% CF, and 20% CS). This wine was impressive for the vintage; it was very aromatic, with Cabernet Franc shining through. It was silky, smooth, complex, graceful, and balanced. I gave it 91p for a barrel sample in 2013, but now it's in the bottle and even better! What is a transformation - a new technique responsible?
LCHB 2011 92p
Tasted twice - last time in October 2018. Consistent notes. It is tight and has fine minerality, nice complexity, and lovely length. It is well-balanced and has a persistent finish. It's a superb wine for the vintage.
LCHB 2010 94p
Tasted twice - last time in September 2015. Not consistent notes. 55% Merlot, 30% CF, and 15% CS. This wine couldn't hide all the superlatives this vintage deserves. Happily, for previous staff at Les Carmes, they knew precisely what they were doing. It is a beautiful wine crammed with perfectly ripe fruit and ripe fat tannin, excellently constructed with great complexity, grace, and depth. Exquisite balance. As many other 2010s did, this wine improved dramatically after staying in the barrel and after bottling. As in the 2005 version of LCHB, elegance is present here. I had this wine again in December 2016, but it wasn't similarly expressive. The bottle in question was bought at an auction and didn't come directly from the chateau, which can explain the below-par performance.
LCHB 2009 94p
Tasted in December 2019. This wine was like a sledgehammer with great intensity and concentration. Muscular and strong but not overdone and extracted. Tons of perfectly ripe fruit and tannin. There are many, many years to go! Very, very impressive.
LCHB 2007 87p
Tasted in September 2015. 55% M, 30% CF, and 15% CS. It expressed softness, spiciness, nice acidity, smoky fruit, and light structure. Quite mature already and ready for consumption.
LCHB 2005 94p
Tasted twice - last time in September 2015. Consistent notes. 50% M, 35% CF, and 15% CS. This wine confirmed all the great things about this vintage. I regard this vintage in Bordeaux as one of the best since 1961! The captivating aroma of blueberries, perfectly ripe fruit, finely grained tannin, excellent acidity, depth, balance, and long caressing aftertaste. There is more emphasis here on elegance than concentration, and no sign of advanced aging! Heartbreaker wine of excellent quality.
LCHB 1990 91p
I tasted it in April 2018. It has a soft texture and mature flavors. It is drinkable now, tastes well, and has a caressingly fruity finish.
LCHB 1975 91p
I tasted this wine three times, the last time in November 2021. Consistent notes. When served blind, I quickly placed it in Pessac-Leognan because of the remarkable oyster/sea scent on the nose, which is characteristic of this district. It is red-brown, very pleasant and round, fully mature, and still enjoyable.
LCHB 1971 92p
I tasted it in June 2019. It's a well-preserved wine, spicy, with lovely complexity, refined, alive, and a fine polished finish with a fruity scent. It's keeping well.
LCHB 1960 92p
Tasted in April 2016. It's a pretty wine, still going fine, with an apparent connection to flavors of the soil found in other vintages. Tasteful delicacy.
LCHB 1953 96p
I tasted it in March 2019. It was a great experience to enjoy this wine filled with elegance and finesse, vibrancy, deliciously fragrant, and tasty. It is a sixty-six-year-old wine with no sign of fading away!
LCHB 1943 95p
I tasted this wine in April 2023. It was a great experience and pleasure to enjoy this wine from the Second World War. It is delicate with elegance and finesse, vibrant, deliciously fragrant, and tasty. This is an almost 80-year-old wine with no sign of fading away!
