Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion 2015

Crafted with perfectionist precision, with polished tannins and freshness, perfectly balanced extract, clean oak, and palpable length: an outstanding wine.

Dense and broad, with warm dark plum, fig and blackberry confiture flavors rolling over one another, backed by a broad swath of tar and roasted apple wood. This is packed with serious grip, featuring bramble, licorice snap and intense sweet tobacco notes on the back end, all of which combine with the fruit for a powerfully rendered finish. Distinct and impressive. Best from 2025 through 2040. 2,083 cases made.

I loved this en primeur, and once again it is fully delivering on its promise. It has a high proportion of Cabernet Franc for a Pessac-Léognan wine, which can make it a little austere early on, but it has now had two years to flesh out. Layers of chocolate-enrobed tannins and dark bilberry and cassis fruit make this a classically styled wine, still taut but not so austere. Great wine with long ageing potential.

Very polished and poised with an immensely powerful core of tannin that drives incredible length on the palate. Fruits are deep in the dark-berry spectrum, encapsulating a terrific sense of freshness through the finish. Great wine. Try from 2024.

This is a stunner. It’s hard to know where to start. You have silky, sensuous, refined textures. A complex mélange of aromatics shows smoke, oyster shell, tobacco, and fresh, ripe, just-picked flowers and dark red fruits. Or perhaps you focus on the long, fresh, ripe, lingering, fruit-filled finish. Either way, the wine rocks! For the price this is still selling for, you should be all over this treat!

Deep dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections, delicate bright rim. Fine spice underlay, attractive black-berry fruit, gentle hints of olive, a touch of fig and spice, a chocolaty note. Juicy, good complexity, pleasant fruit, silky tannins, persistent, already shows great length, it has a promising ageing potential.

The 2015 is an interesting blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Sauvignon that saw a fair amount of whole clusters during fermentation, with 90% of the blend raised in barrel and the rest in amphoras. Its deep purple color is followed by a beautiful perfume of ripe currant and plum fruits, chocolate, ground herbs, and damp earth. With full-bodied richness, terrific ripeness, building tannins, and an underlying sense of elegance and purity that only grows with time in the glass, it needs 4–5 years of cellaring but is going to cruise in the cellar for 3–4 decades.

Extremely dark purple with lilac and violet highlights. The bouquet is almost exclusively black-fruited, with dark malt, pumpernickel, smoke, Amarena cherries, exotic woods and currants—very deep. On the palate, a paragon of sweetness, a supple, densely knit body, and brilliant length with plenty of Cabernet spice. The estate once again demonstrates its exorbitant ascent since the change of ownership. A must-buy! The high score is the good news. The bad: the crop is extremely small. There is currently 30% less in the cellar. Total production: 24,000 bottles.

Extremely dark purple with lilac and violet highlights. The bouquet is almost entirely black-berried: dark malt, pumpernickel, smoke, Amarena cherries, exotic woods and currants, very profound. On the palate, an outpouring of sweetness, a smooth, densely packed body, brilliant length with plenty of Cabernet spice. The estate once again proves its exorbitant ascent since the change of ownership. A must-buy! The high score is the good news. The bad news: the harvest is extremely small. There is currently 30% less in the cellar. Total production: 24,000 bottles. 18: a baby-killer with a fun factor. Bundled, dense, perfect. Proves its rising-star condition!

Fresh, fragrant, silky bouquet with plum, damson, tobacco, currants, licorice. Balanced, velvety, tightly knit palate with vibrant fruit, creamy texture, full, sweet aromatics, fine tannins, dense structure, long, fresh finish. 18/20 2023 - 2040

The succulent depth and width to this wine is clear as soon as your nose hovers over the glass. Concentrated tannins hum beneath a more sculpted, aerial side of fragrant peonies and raspberry leaf that take off across 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 personality that is not necessarily reflective of the appellation as a whole. pH 3.7, 40% new oak.

A blend of 54% Cabernet Franc, 32% Merlot, and 14% Cabernet Sauvignon, with nearly 50% whole bunch fermentation, the 2015 Les Carmes Haut-Brion spent 2 years in barrel with nearly 90% new oak. Deep garnet-purple colored (the total phenolics index is almost 90!), it charges out of the gate with vivacious scents of Morello cherries, crème de cassis, and boysenberry preserves, plus hints of violets, charcoal, mossy tree bark, and wild thyme. Medium-bodied, the palate has a rock-solid structure of grainy tannins and plenty of freshness to support the intense black fruits, finishing long and savory.

Superb. Complex aromas, generous fruit, gentle spices, subtle oak, a powerful, flavorful palate with a present yet melting tannic framework, length, and impeccable balance. Very natural.

With a unique style, the 2015 shines for its intensity and, above all, the texture of its substance. Tight yet classy, with great precision and freshness on the finish, it lingers for a very long time and expresses an energetic minerality.

The 2015 has always clearly shown its élevage and it does not fall short of its reputation! However, it is embracing it more and more and, at last, the élevage is doing what it should: guiding the wine through its journey over time. The bouquet reveals truffled nuances as well as black-berry aromas. Complexity has taken the lead. The wine is creamy, charming, ample, and ready for a long stay in the cellar. Back at en primeur and upon release, I noted an overly insistent oak presence on the finish. Today, seven years later, it still seems a slight drawback to me, but I suspect I’ll be proven wrong sooner or later!

Logo on the capsule: ML Dark, intense color, slightly evolved. Very aromatic nose with very ripe fruit, reminiscent of Saint-Emilion. It smells great, but I’ve lost the aromatic depth found in previous vintages, particularly the smoky touch. Delicate on the attack, very fruity and caressing mid-palate, with less flavor than 2014; the wine becomes juicy as it weaves through the last part of the palate, which is its strength. Good length with noticeable, yet gentle tannic presence. Alcohol: 14% – pH: 3.7. Blend: 44% Cabernet Franc, 32% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon.

From the very first nose, a generous profile emerges: very ripe black fruit, heady, with oak still present yet well integrated. With aeration, it gains in opulence; the ample fruit is adorned with mauve flowers—iris, violet, hyacinth. Concentration, tension, and spices define the palate. Whole-bunch fermentation brings extra vitality and an unmistakable tannic signature. Energetic and rich.