2006 Haut-Brion

The harvest at Haut-Brion and La Mission began early by 2007 standards but lasted longer than usual, according to Jean-Philippe Delmas: from September 13 through October 5 for the red grapes. The merlot was finished by September 25, but at that point the cabernet sauvignon was not yet sufficiently ripe, added Delmas, who told me that the 2007 merlot does not have the "genie" (genius, or spirit) of recent years. His explanation: the merlot was further along in its evolution by late August and thus was more affected by the substantial rainfall at the end of that month. Among the standouts of my annual tasting here-an event that never fails to turn up riches-were the two splendid 2007 white wines, the 2006 La Mission and the 2005 Haut-Brion.

The big news at Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion is that La Tour Haut-Brion will no longer be made after the 2005 vintage. The six hectares of vines will in theory be available for La Mission, although in 2006 this juice also went into La Chapelle Haut-Brion, La Mission's second wine. "La Tour Haut-Brion was not our most-demanded wine," explained estate manager Jean-Philippe Delmas. "During the ownership of the Woltners, this used to be the second wine of La Mission, but then my father created La Chapelle in 1991 as a second wine. La Tour Haut-Brion never really existed as a cru, so it's a disappearance that's not really a disappearance." As in so many recent vintages, Haut-Brion and La Mission benefited from their protected, warmer microclimate within the city limits of Bordeaux: the merlot here was harvested concentrated and rich during the second week of September, with one cuve reaching nearly 16% potential alcohol. "We then waited from September 15 until September 21 to start bringing in the cabernet sauvignon," said Delmas. "The cabernet had a bit less sugar than the merlot but was as rich in tannins and still as high in alcohol as the 2005 had been." Enologist Jean-Philippe Masclet told me that he was very careful about extraction in 2006, keeping the fermentation temperature of the merlot to 26oC and doing a shorter-than-normal cuvaison of just 15 days for the cabernet. The '06s will be bottled with alcohol, acid and tannin levels similar to those of the 2005s, he added, but with higher pH. By the way, the two white wines made here are potentially extraordinary; the fruit was picked in a leisurely fashion between August 29 and September 12, mostly in very warm, dry weather.