"2021 Les Carmes Haut-Brion"
98 Antonio Galloni, Décembre 2023 (Février 2024) :
The 2021 Les Carmes Haut-Brion is very possibly the wine of the vintage. Vertical and explosive, the 2021 possesses mind-blowing intensity and dynamic energy to burn. The 2021 is a heady, racy wine that captivates all the senses. Tobacco, mocha, cedar, leather, dried herbs, menthol, licorice and plum saturate the palate in a wine that dazzles from start to finish. The 2021 was bottled in late September 2023, much later than most wines, yet it is so expressive today. It was magnificent from barrel, and it is every bit as breathtaking today. Quite simply, Les Carmes is on another level. Bravo!
95 Neal Martin, Novembre 2023 (Février 2024) :
The 2021 Les Carmes Haut-Brion was one of the best wines of the vintage when I tasted from barrel. This contains 49% whole-bunch (a slightly higher figure than Guillaume Pouthier gave me during en primeur). The barrel-aging has what Pouthier called a « white toasting », very light, so that you don’t smell the oak (70% new). It has a complex bouquet, quite open with mainly red fruit, cedar and hints of pressed violet. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled, unobtrusive tannins that imbue this Pessac with a sense of symmetry. It posseses thrilling salinity and is a little granular in texture on the finsih, completing perhaps the most impressive wine of this challenging season.
98 Antonio Galloni, Décembre 2023 (Février 2024) :
The 2021 Les Carmes Haut-Brion is very possibly the wine of the vintage. Vertical and explosive, the 2021 possesses mind-blowing intensity and dynamic energy to burn. The 2021 is a heady, racy wine that captivates all the senses. Tobacco, mocha, cedar, leather, dried herbs, menthol, licorice and plum saturate the palate in a wine that dazzles from start to finish. The 2021 was bottled in late September 2023, much later than most wines, yet it is so expressive today. It was magnificent from barrel, and it is every bit as breathtaking today. Quite simply, Les Carmes is on another level. Bravo!
95 Neal Martin, Novembre 2023 (Février 2024) :
The 2021 Les Carmes Haut-Brion was one of the best wines of the vintage when I tasted from barrel. This contains 49% whole-bunch (a slightly higher figure than Guillaume Pouthier gave me during en primeur). The barrel-aging has what Pouthier called a « white toasting », very light, so that you don’t smell the oak (70% new). It has a complex bouquet, quite open with mainly red fruit, cedar and hints of pressed violet. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled, unobtrusive tannins that imbue this Pessac with a sense of symmetry. It posseses thrilling salinity and is a little granular in texture on the finsih, completing perhaps the most impressive wine of this challenging season.