Château Haut-Brion
Encyclopedia
Château Haut-Brion is a French wine
, rated a Premier Cru Classé (First Growth
), produced in the Gironde region. It differs from the other wines on the list in its geographic location in the north of the wine-growing region of Graves
. Of the five first growths, it is the only wine with the Pessac-Léognan
appellation and is in some sense the ancestor of a classification that remains the benchmark to this day.
In addition to the grand vin, Haut-Brion produces a red second wine
, from the 2007 vintage renamed Le Clarence de Haut Brion in place of the former name Château Bahans Haut-Brion. There is also produced a dry white wine named Château Haut-Brion Blanc, with a limited release of the second dry white wine, Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion, renamed La Clarté de Haut-Brion after the 2008 vintage. Since 2003, Domaine Clarence Dillon's daughter company Clarence Dillon Wines has also released the Bordeaux brand
wine named Clarendelle.
The estate Château Haut-Brion dates back to April 1525 when Jean de Pontac married Jeanne de Bellon, the daughter of the mayor of Libourne
and seigneur of Hault-Brion, who brought to him in her dowry the land. In 1533 bought the mansion of Haut-Brion, while construction of the château
was begun in 1549.
1649, Lord Arnaud III de Pontac became owner of Haut-Brion, and the wine's growing popularity began in earnest. The first records of Haut-Brion wine found in the wine cellar ledger of the English king Charles II. During the years 1660 and 1661, 169 bottles of the "wine of Hobriono" were served at the king's court. Samuel Pepys
wrote in The Diarist, having tasted the wine at Royal Oak Tavern on April 10, 1663, to have "drank a sort of French wine called Ho Bryen that hath a good and most particular taste I never met with".
In 1666, after "The Great Fire"
, the son François-Auguste, opened a tavern in London called "L'Enseigne de Pontac", or the "Sign of Pontac's Head", which was according to André Simon, London's first fashionable eating-house. Jonathan Swift
"found the wine dear at seven shilling
s a flagon
".
By the end of the 17th century the estate amounted to 264 hectares (652.4 acre) of which some 38 hectares (93.9 acre) were under vine
. The wine was often sold under the name Pontac, though since the Pontac family owned numerous wine estates that could use the name, it is often impossible to tell when a wine came from Haut-Brion. Sometimes also spelled Pontack, another Pontac estate at Blanquefort which produced white wine would also often go by this name.
English philosopher John Locke
, visiting Bordeaux in 1677, spoke of Haut-Brion, "...The wine of Pontac, so revered in England, is made on a little rise of ground, lieing[sic] open most to the west. It is noe thing but pure white sand, mixed with a little gravel. One would imagin it scarce fit to beare anything.." On the cause of its increasing costliness, he stated, "thanks to the rich English who sent orders that it was to be got for them at any price". The German philosopher Hegel
was also enchanted with the wine of Pontac, though it is unknown if his orders were for other de Pontac wines of Saint-Estèphe
.
With the death of François-Auguste de Pontac, François-Joseph de Fumel, a nephew by marriage, inherited two-thirds of Haut-Brion with a third coming to Louis-Arnaud Le Comte, Lord Captal of Latresne. The de Fumel family also at one point owned Château Margaux
.
In 1787, Thomas Jefferson
, then American minister to France, came to Bordeaux. On May 25 he visited to Haut-Brion, describing the terroir
, "The soil of Haut-Brion, which I examined in great detail, is made up of sand, in which there is near as much round gravel or small stone and a very little loam like the soils of the Médoc". His notes placed Haut-Brion among the four estates of first quality, with the entry, "3. Haut-Brion, two-thirds of which belong to the Count de Fumel who sold the harvest to a merchant called Barton. The other third belongs to the Count of Toulouse; in all, the château produces 75 barrels." Haut-Brion became the first recorded first growth wine to be imported to the United States, when Jefferson purchased six cases during the travels and had them sent back to his estate in Virginia
.
As a consequence of the French Revolution
, in July 1794 Joseph de Fumel was guillotined, and his holdings were divided. Posthumously, de Fumel's nephews obtained a pardon for him as well as the restitution of the confiscated property, but they left France. In 1801, they sold Haut-Brion to Talleyrand, Prince of Benevento
, owner of Haut-Brion for three years.
A less prosperous period followed between 1804 and 1836 under successive ownership of various businessmen, until Joseph-Eugène Larrieu bought Haut-Brion when it was sold by auction. In 1841, by buying the Chai-Neuf building from the Marquis de Catellan, he brought the estate back to the former size of the estate up until the death of François-Auguste de Pontac in 1694. Larrieu's family owned Haut-Brion until 1923.
In the classifications of 1855 ahead of the International Exhibition in Paris, Château Haut-Brion was classified Premier Grand Cru, as the only estate from Graves among the three established First Growths of the Médoc. The prices of Haut-Brion in the 19th century were consistently higher than those of any other Bordeaux wine.
After a series of unsuccessful owners during difficult times, the American banker Clarence Dillon
bought Château Haut-Brion on May 13, 1935 for ₣
2,300,000. Several unverified anecdotes surround the acquisition, as Dillon was believed to also consider buying châteaux Cheval Blanc
, Ausone
or a majority share in Margaux
, but didn't care to make the trip on a rainy, chilly day, and chose Haut-Brion for its proximity to Bordeaux and riding facilities. One account claims Dillon never got out of the car.
Dillon made his nephew Seymour Weller president of the new company "Société Vinicole de la Gironde" (later Domaine Clarence Dillon
S.A.), who held the position for five decades. Weller restored the park, cleaned the chais, and installed electricity along with new vinification equipment. He retained Georges Delmas, the régisseur and director of Haut-Brion since 1921, and former manager of Cos d'Estournel.
Haut-Brion first began using its distinctive bottle, emulating designs of old decanter
models, from the 1958 vintage which was released in 1960.
Georges Delmas retired in 1961, and was succeeded by his son Jean-Bernard Delmas, born at the estate, instigating a number of renovations. In the 1960s, Haut-Brion was the first of the great growths to innovate with new stainless steel fermentation vats. Clonal selection research was begun in 1972, in collaboration with INRA and the Chambre d'Agriculture. Insisting that great wine cannot be made with only one clone, Jean-Bernard Delmas has stated, "You need an assemblage of excellent clones", adding, "We know where each plant is located". At Haut-Brion, each hectare contains 10 to 15 different clonal selections.
in 1975, at the age of 83, Seymour Weller retired as President of the company. His cousin's daughter and granddaughter of Clarence Dillon, Joan Dillon, then Princesse Charles de Luxembourg and later Duchesse de Mouchy, replaced him. In 1976, the 1970 vintage of Haut-Brion ranked fourth among the ten French and California
red wines in the historic "Judgment of Paris" wine competition
.
The fierce competition that had existed between Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion
over several years, which rose to a peak in the 1970s and early 1980s, ended when Domaine Clarence Dillon acquired La Mission in 1983.
From the 2007 vintage, in connection with the 75-year anniversary of Dillon family ownership, the red second wine Château Bahans Haut-Brion was released under the new name Le Clarence de Haut-Brion. The name Château Bahans Haut-Brion had been in use for at least a century, and over a period it was sold without a declared vintage. Starting with the 2009 vintage, the white second wine Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion was renamed La Clarté de Haut-Brion.
Manager Jean-Bernard Delmas retired in 2003, and was succeeded by his son Jean-Philippe Delmas. Prince Robert of Luxembourg who has acted as an administrator at Haut-Brion since the age of 18, became in 2008 Président Directeur Général of Domaine Clarence Dillon.
Château Haut-Brion devotes 48.35 hectares (119.5 acre) to red grape
varieties, with a distribution of 45.4% Merlot
, 43.9% Cabernet Sauvignon
, 9.7% Cabernet Franc
and 1% Petit Verdot
, and 2.87 ha (7.1 acre) to white grape varieties, distributed with 52.6% Sémillon
and 47.4% Sauvignon blanc
.
The vineyards are elevated, up to 27 meters, somewhat above the Bordeaux norm. The soil consists of Günzian gravel and some parcels have high contents of clay. All the vineyards are located in a cluster near the château itself and on the other side of the main road.
The selection of optimum rootstock
s and clones has been a large task at Château Haut-Brion, pioneered by Jean-Bernard Delmas, which has greatly contributed to the quality of the plant material in the vineyard. The long-term aim has been to lower yields, not by green-harvesting but by ensuring healthy and balanced vines. The average age of the vines is approximately 35 years with the oldest parcels dating back to the 1930s, planted with an average vine density of 8000 vines/ha.
Harvesting takes place by hand and each parcel is worked by the same team of workers to increase the teams' familiarity with the individual vines. The harvest of the white grapes takes place very early due to the proximity to the city of Bordeaux which results in a warmer microclimate and thus earlier ripening. The white grapes are picked as late as possible, sorted and then pneumaticly pressed in whole bunches. There is no skin contact and fermentation takes place in oak barrels with indigenous yeasts. After sorting in the field, the red grapes are destemmed, crushed and moved to a special double-tank with fermentation taking place in the top and malolactic fermentation in the bottom, using gravity to move the wine. Previously ageing
took place in 100% new oak casks lasting 18 months. This has been reduced to 35% new casks and wine destined for the second wine Le Clarence is aged in 25% new oak. The white wine is aged in 40-45% new oak for 10–12 months. Château Haut-Brion has its own cooperage
.
The annual production ranges from 10000 winecase of the red grand vin Château Haut-Brion, and from 650 winecase of Château Haut-Brion Blanc. Of the second wine
s, the red Le Clarence de Haut-Brion previously named Château Bahans Haut-Brion, has a production of 5000 winecase, and the white La Clarté de Haut-Brion, previously named Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion, has a production of 1000 winecase.
Since 2003, Domaine Clarence Dillon's daughter company Clarence Dillon Wines has produced the mid-priced wine Bordeaux brand
wine Clarendelle. The brand range consists of a Clarendelle Bordeaux Rouge, a Clarendelle Bordeaux Blanc, a Clarendelle Bordeaux Rosé
and a Clarendelle Monbazillac
Amberwine.
French wine
French wine is produced in several regions throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France has the world's second-largest total vineyard area, behind Spain, and is in the position of being the world's largest wine producer...
, rated a Premier Cru Classé (First Growth
First Growth
First Growth status refers to a classification of wines primarily from the Bordeaux region of France.-Bordeaux reds:The need for a classification of the best Bordeaux wines arose for the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris. The result was the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, a list...
), produced in the Gironde region. It differs from the other wines on the list in its geographic location in the north of the wine-growing region of Graves
Graves
Graves is an important subregion of the Bordeaux wine region. Graves is situated on the left bank of the Garonne river, in the upstream part of the region, southeast of the city Bordeaux and stretch over...
. Of the five first growths, it is the only wine with the Pessac-Léognan
Pessac-Léognan
Pessac-Léognan is a French wine appellation, within the Graves subregion of the Bordeaux wine region. Both red and white wine is produced within the appellation, which consists of 10 communes: Cadaujac, Canéjan, Gradignan, Léognan, Martillac, Mérignac, Pessac, Saint-Médard-d'Eyrans, Talence and...
appellation and is in some sense the ancestor of a classification that remains the benchmark to this day.
In addition to the grand vin, Haut-Brion produces a red second wine
Second wine
Second wine is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from cuvee not selected for use in the Grand vin or first label...
, from the 2007 vintage renamed Le Clarence de Haut Brion in place of the former name Château Bahans Haut-Brion. There is also produced a dry white wine named Château Haut-Brion Blanc, with a limited release of the second dry white wine, Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion, renamed La Clarté de Haut-Brion after the 2008 vintage. Since 2003, Domaine Clarence Dillon's daughter company Clarence Dillon Wines has also released the Bordeaux brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
wine named Clarendelle.
History
Although grapes are thought to have been grown on the property since Roman times, the earliest document indicating cultivation of a parcel of land dates from 1423. The property was bought by Jean de Ségur in 1509, and in 1525 was owned by the admiral Philippe de Chabot.The estate Château Haut-Brion dates back to April 1525 when Jean de Pontac married Jeanne de Bellon, the daughter of the mayor of Libourne
Libourne
Libourne is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Émilion and Pomerol.-Geography:...
and seigneur of Hault-Brion, who brought to him in her dowry the land. In 1533 bought the mansion of Haut-Brion, while construction of the château
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
was begun in 1549.
1649, Lord Arnaud III de Pontac became owner of Haut-Brion, and the wine's growing popularity began in earnest. The first records of Haut-Brion wine found in the wine cellar ledger of the English king Charles II. During the years 1660 and 1661, 169 bottles of the "wine of Hobriono" were served at the king's court. Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
wrote in The Diarist, having tasted the wine at Royal Oak Tavern on April 10, 1663, to have "drank a sort of French wine called Ho Bryen that hath a good and most particular taste I never met with".
In 1666, after "The Great Fire"
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
, the son François-Auguste, opened a tavern in London called "L'Enseigne de Pontac", or the "Sign of Pontac's Head", which was according to André Simon, London's first fashionable eating-house. Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
"found the wine dear at seven shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
s a flagon
Flagon
A flagon is a large leather, metal or ceramic vessel, commonly a pitcher, often used for drink, whether this be water, ale, or something else.-Christian use:...
".
By the end of the 17th century the estate amounted to 264 hectares (652.4 acre) of which some 38 hectares (93.9 acre) were under vine
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
. The wine was often sold under the name Pontac, though since the Pontac family owned numerous wine estates that could use the name, it is often impossible to tell when a wine came from Haut-Brion. Sometimes also spelled Pontack, another Pontac estate at Blanquefort which produced white wine would also often go by this name.
English philosopher John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
, visiting Bordeaux in 1677, spoke of Haut-Brion, "...The wine of Pontac, so revered in England, is made on a little rise of ground, lieing[sic] open most to the west. It is noe thing but pure white sand, mixed with a little gravel. One would imagin it scarce fit to beare anything.." On the cause of its increasing costliness, he stated, "thanks to the rich English who sent orders that it was to be got for them at any price". The German philosopher Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...
was also enchanted with the wine of Pontac, though it is unknown if his orders were for other de Pontac wines of Saint-Estèphe
Saint-Estèphe
Saint-Estèphe is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-Wine:Saint-Estèphe is best known as the northernmost, and one of the four major wine-growing appellations of the Médoc...
.
With the death of François-Auguste de Pontac, François-Joseph de Fumel, a nephew by marriage, inherited two-thirds of Haut-Brion with a third coming to Louis-Arnaud Le Comte, Lord Captal of Latresne. The de Fumel family also at one point owned Château Margaux
Château Margaux
Château Margaux, archaically La Mothe de Margaux, is a wine estate of Bordeaux wine, and was one of four wines to achieve Premier cru status in the Bordeaux Classification of 1855. The estate's best wines are very expensive...
.
In 1787, Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, then American minister to France, came to Bordeaux. On May 25 he visited to Haut-Brion, describing the terroir
Terroir
Terroir comes from the word terre "land". It was originally a French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place bestowed upon particular varieties...
, "The soil of Haut-Brion, which I examined in great detail, is made up of sand, in which there is near as much round gravel or small stone and a very little loam like the soils of the Médoc". His notes placed Haut-Brion among the four estates of first quality, with the entry, "3. Haut-Brion, two-thirds of which belong to the Count de Fumel who sold the harvest to a merchant called Barton. The other third belongs to the Count of Toulouse; in all, the château produces 75 barrels." Haut-Brion became the first recorded first growth wine to be imported to the United States, when Jefferson purchased six cases during the travels and had them sent back to his estate in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.
As a consequence of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, in July 1794 Joseph de Fumel was guillotined, and his holdings were divided. Posthumously, de Fumel's nephews obtained a pardon for him as well as the restitution of the confiscated property, but they left France. In 1801, they sold Haut-Brion to Talleyrand, Prince of Benevento
Benevento
Benevento is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 km northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 m above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and Sabato...
, owner of Haut-Brion for three years.
A less prosperous period followed between 1804 and 1836 under successive ownership of various businessmen, until Joseph-Eugène Larrieu bought Haut-Brion when it was sold by auction. In 1841, by buying the Chai-Neuf building from the Marquis de Catellan, he brought the estate back to the former size of the estate up until the death of François-Auguste de Pontac in 1694. Larrieu's family owned Haut-Brion until 1923.
In the classifications of 1855 ahead of the International Exhibition in Paris, Château Haut-Brion was classified Premier Grand Cru, as the only estate from Graves among the three established First Growths of the Médoc. The prices of Haut-Brion in the 19th century were consistently higher than those of any other Bordeaux wine.
Modern history
Clarence Dillon
Clarence Dillon, , was an American financier, and namesake of Dillon, Read & Co., an investment bank.-Background:...
bought Château Haut-Brion on May 13, 1935 for ₣
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
2,300,000. Several unverified anecdotes surround the acquisition, as Dillon was believed to also consider buying châteaux Cheval Blanc
Château Cheval Blanc
Château Cheval Blanc , is a wine producer in Saint-Émilion in the Bordeaux wine region of France. Its wine is one of only two to receive the highest rank of Premier Grand Cru Classé status in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine of 1955, along with Château Ausone.The estate's second wine is...
, Ausone
Château Ausone
Château Ausone is a Bordeaux wine from Saint-Émilion appellation, one of only two wines, along with Château Cheval Blanc, to be ranked Premier Grand Cru Classé in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine...
or a majority share in Margaux
Château Margaux
Château Margaux, archaically La Mothe de Margaux, is a wine estate of Bordeaux wine, and was one of four wines to achieve Premier cru status in the Bordeaux Classification of 1855. The estate's best wines are very expensive...
, but didn't care to make the trip on a rainy, chilly day, and chose Haut-Brion for its proximity to Bordeaux and riding facilities. One account claims Dillon never got out of the car.
Dillon made his nephew Seymour Weller president of the new company "Société Vinicole de la Gironde" (later Domaine Clarence Dillon
Domaine Clarence Dillon
Domaine Clarence Dillon SAS is a French company that owns two Bordeauxwine estates, Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion. It was first founded on June 1, 1935...
S.A.), who held the position for five decades. Weller restored the park, cleaned the chais, and installed electricity along with new vinification equipment. He retained Georges Delmas, the régisseur and director of Haut-Brion since 1921, and former manager of Cos d'Estournel.
Haut-Brion first began using its distinctive bottle, emulating designs of old decanter
Decanter
A decanter is a vessel that is used to hold the decantation of a liquid which may contain sediment. Decanters are normally used as serving vessels for wine. Decanters vary in shape and design. They are usually made of an inert material and will hold at least one standard bottle of wine...
models, from the 1958 vintage which was released in 1960.
Georges Delmas retired in 1961, and was succeeded by his son Jean-Bernard Delmas, born at the estate, instigating a number of renovations. In the 1960s, Haut-Brion was the first of the great growths to innovate with new stainless steel fermentation vats. Clonal selection research was begun in 1972, in collaboration with INRA and the Chambre d'Agriculture. Insisting that great wine cannot be made with only one clone, Jean-Bernard Delmas has stated, "You need an assemblage of excellent clones", adding, "We know where each plant is located". At Haut-Brion, each hectare contains 10 to 15 different clonal selections.
in 1975, at the age of 83, Seymour Weller retired as President of the company. His cousin's daughter and granddaughter of Clarence Dillon, Joan Dillon, then Princesse Charles de Luxembourg and later Duchesse de Mouchy, replaced him. In 1976, the 1970 vintage of Haut-Brion ranked fourth among the ten French and California
California wine
California wine has a long and continuing history, and in the late twentieth century became recognized as producing some of the world's finest wine. While wine is made in all fifty U.S. states, up to 90% of American wine is produced in the state...
red wines in the historic "Judgment of Paris" wine competition
Wine competition
A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages or bands of wine. There are two types of wine competitions, both of which use blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the judges....
.
The fierce competition that had existed between Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion
Château La Mission Haut-Brion
Château la Mission Haut-Brion is a Bordeaux wine from the Pessac-Léognan appellation, classed among the Grand Crus in the Graves classification of 1953...
over several years, which rose to a peak in the 1970s and early 1980s, ended when Domaine Clarence Dillon acquired La Mission in 1983.
From the 2007 vintage, in connection with the 75-year anniversary of Dillon family ownership, the red second wine Château Bahans Haut-Brion was released under the new name Le Clarence de Haut-Brion. The name Château Bahans Haut-Brion had been in use for at least a century, and over a period it was sold without a declared vintage. Starting with the 2009 vintage, the white second wine Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion was renamed La Clarté de Haut-Brion.
Manager Jean-Bernard Delmas retired in 2003, and was succeeded by his son Jean-Philippe Delmas. Prince Robert of Luxembourg who has acted as an administrator at Haut-Brion since the age of 18, became in 2008 Président Directeur Général of Domaine Clarence Dillon.
Production
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
varieties, with a distribution of 45.4% Merlot
Merlot
Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...
, 43.9% Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...
, 9.7% Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...
and 1% Petit Verdot
Petit verdot
Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen, it is added in small amounts to add tannin, colour and flavour to the...
, and 2.87 ha (7.1 acre) to white grape varieties, distributed with 52.6% Sémillon
Sémillon
Sémillon is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, most notably in France and Australia.-History:The origin of the Sémillon grape is hard to determine. It is known that it first arrived in Australia in the early 19th century and by the 1820s the grape covered over 90 percent...
and 47.4% Sauvignon blanc
Sauvignon blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...
.
The vineyards are elevated, up to 27 meters, somewhat above the Bordeaux norm. The soil consists of Günzian gravel and some parcels have high contents of clay. All the vineyards are located in a cluster near the château itself and on the other side of the main road.
The selection of optimum rootstock
Rootstock
A rootstock is a plant, and sometimes just the stump, which already has an established, healthy root system, used for grafting a cutting or budding from another plant. The tree part being grafted onto the rootstock is usually called the scion...
s and clones has been a large task at Château Haut-Brion, pioneered by Jean-Bernard Delmas, which has greatly contributed to the quality of the plant material in the vineyard. The long-term aim has been to lower yields, not by green-harvesting but by ensuring healthy and balanced vines. The average age of the vines is approximately 35 years with the oldest parcels dating back to the 1930s, planted with an average vine density of 8000 vines/ha.
Harvesting takes place by hand and each parcel is worked by the same team of workers to increase the teams' familiarity with the individual vines. The harvest of the white grapes takes place very early due to the proximity to the city of Bordeaux which results in a warmer microclimate and thus earlier ripening. The white grapes are picked as late as possible, sorted and then pneumaticly pressed in whole bunches. There is no skin contact and fermentation takes place in oak barrels with indigenous yeasts. After sorting in the field, the red grapes are destemmed, crushed and moved to a special double-tank with fermentation taking place in the top and malolactic fermentation in the bottom, using gravity to move the wine. Previously ageing
Aging of wine
The aging of wine, and its ability to potentially improve wine quality, distinguishes wine from most other consumable goods. While wine is perishable and capable of deteriorating, complex chemical reactions involving a wine's sugars, acids and phenolic compounds can alter the aroma, color,...
took place in 100% new oak casks lasting 18 months. This has been reduced to 35% new casks and wine destined for the second wine Le Clarence is aged in 25% new oak. The white wine is aged in 40-45% new oak for 10–12 months. Château Haut-Brion has its own cooperage
Cooper (profession)
Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...
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The annual production ranges from 10000 winecase of the red grand vin Château Haut-Brion, and from 650 winecase of Château Haut-Brion Blanc. Of the second wine
Second wine
Second wine is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from cuvee not selected for use in the Grand vin or first label...
s, the red Le Clarence de Haut-Brion previously named Château Bahans Haut-Brion, has a production of 5000 winecase, and the white La Clarté de Haut-Brion, previously named Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion, has a production of 1000 winecase.
Since 2003, Domaine Clarence Dillon's daughter company Clarence Dillon Wines has produced the mid-priced wine Bordeaux brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
wine Clarendelle. The brand range consists of a Clarendelle Bordeaux Rouge, a Clarendelle Bordeaux Blanc, a Clarendelle Bordeaux Rosé
Rosé
A rosé is a type of wine that has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and wine making techniques.- Production techniques :There are three major ways to produce rosé...
and a Clarendelle Monbazillac
Monbazillac AOC
Monbazillac is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for sweet white wine produced in the village of Monbazillac on the left bank of the Dordogne River just across from the town of Bergerac in South West France. The appellation covers almost of vineyards.The AOC of Monbazillac was first established...
Amberwine.