Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion 2021

A gorgeous aromatic display draws you in: crystalline, floral with iris, peony and violet, herbal, earthy and fruity. Sumptuous, this is a classy wine, beautifully smooth but with powdery tannins that give grip and intensity to the structure. It’s grippy at the moment, not as ethereal or silky as some right now, but it’s characterful with power, all while being nuanced and detailed. Charming but still yet to fully come out of its shell. Crunchy, great energy and focus with salty minerality on the finish. This will be a beauty.

The texture and weight make this wine classy and unique with subtle berries, chocolate, bark and hints of cloves and dried flowers. Graphite. Medium- to full-bodied with very integrated, fine and lightly chewy tannins with lots of polish and focus. Juicy and crunchy. So much spice and earth. Average vine age of the cabernet franc is 80 years. 45% whole-bunch. 40% cabernet franc, 35% cabernet sauvignon and 25% merlot. Give this time, but it’s already a fascinating young wine. Try after 2027.

The 2021 Les Carmes Haut-Brion was one of the best wines of the vintage when I tasted it from barrel. It contains 49% whole-bunch (a slightly higher figure than Guillaume Pouthier gave me during en primeur). The barrel aging features what Pouthier called a “white toasting,” very light, so 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 give this Pessac a sense of symmetry. It shows thrilling salinity and a slightly granular texture on the finish, making it perhaps the most impressive wine of this challenging season.

With a spicy, savory edge to the red fruits on the nose, you also find a plethora of singed herbs, cigar wrapper, flowers, and cedar in the perfume. On the palate, the red fruits are fresh, vibrant, elegant, refined, and salty, almost as if the berries were brined. The long finish shows a hint of cocoa, chalk, oyster shells, and savory-tinged red fruits, with olives that pop in on the upbeat, back end. The wine was made using 45% whole-bunch clusters during fermentation. From a blend of 40% Cabernet Franc, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot, 13.5% ABV, pH 3.6. The wine is aging in a combination of 70% new French oak, 20% foudres, and 10% amphora. Drink from 2025–2050.

Dark garnet, vivid core, purple hues at the rim. Pleasant herbal savouriness, black cherries, a touch of plums, a hint of mint and candied orange zest; an attractive bouquet. Complex, taut, dark berry fruit, sturdy, silky tannins, mineral and fresh on the finish. Full of energy with black cherries on the finish, great length. Wonderful elegance, certain ageing potential, perfectly balanced.

Kunz barrel sample 2022: (40% Cabernet Franc, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 13.5% vol. alcohol) Delicately fruity, elegant, fresh, complex, finely concentrated bouquet; raspberries, blueberries, cassis, cedar, nougat, Black Currant, tobacco, fine plums. Densely woven, creamy, multi-layered, elegant palate with powerful, fresh fruit, lots of fine tannins, a concentrated, elegant, delicately creamy structure, powerful, dense, diverse aromatics, very long, fresh, superb finish.

(40% Cabernet Franc, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 13.5% vol. alcohol) Finely fruity, elegant, fresh, complex, finely concentrated bouquet, raspberries, blueberries, cassis, cedar, nougat, Black Currant, tobacco, fine plum notes. Densely interwoven, creamy, multi-layered, elegant palate with powerful, fresh fruit, plenty of fine tannins, a concentrated, elegant, delicately creamy structure, powerful, dense, varied aromatics, very long, fresh, superb finish. 19/20 2029 - 2055

Deep ruby colour. This has a ton of Carmes signature right from the first moment, expressive, beautiful cool-climate character and expression. Nuanced salinity, leaning into the savoury character of 2021 and rendering it vivid and precise, with violet and iris florals, chalky tannic grip, crushed red rose petals, pomegranate, mandarin, liquorice, blueberry. Natural yeast fermentation, 70% new oak, 10% amphoras. 45% whole bunches, which for Carmes is lower than it has been in recent years (2022 being an all-time high at 70%). pH 3.6.

A blend of 45% Cabernet Franc, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 20% Merlot, Les Carmes Haut-Brion 2021 has a pH of 3.6. 55% whole bunches were used and it spent two years in barrel, which is four months longer than usual. It has an opaque garnet-purple color and it bursts from the glass with vivacious notes of redcurrant jelly, black cherry preserves, and black raspberries, followed by hints of garrigue, wild thyme, cast-iron pan, and dusty soil, with a touch of roses. The medium-bodied palate delivers intense red and black fruit layers, with a sturdy frame of tightly knit, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing on a lingering ferrous note. With a structure and intensity like this, it should age slowly over the next 30-40 years+, which is an anomaly for this generally earlier drinking vintage.

A dark, moody character, intriguing on the nose, with a touch of meat and purple flowers. Closed for now, as if stepping into a cold cave whose entrance is hidden by wildflowers... The creamy texture pulls you into a whirl of sensations, a mind-bending trip… You can feel the maturity, purity, fullness, and incredible power. The most intensely energetic wine of the vintage!

With a mindset of subtlety, finesse, and perfection, the bouquet of Carmes lays the groundwork from the outset! It must be said that it precedes a wine that already shone during the en primeur tastings, so the challenge is considerable. Beyond the varietal dimension of Bouchet (iris, peonies), there is the freshness of garrigue, dried herbs, and hints of elderberry. In keeping with the bouquet, the attack introduces the wine with clear enthusiasm and serenity. Freshness, power, and charm are all there, with a touch of oak as well. Again, just like the bouquet. A true match play between nose and palate sets in. Not to the detriment of the wine—quite the opposite. The wine begins by reminding us, in its own way, that there are great wines in 2021 (as it already did in 2013, but in 2021 in an even more tangible, more accomplished manner). It embraces the specificities of the vintage; the tannins are tight but not harsh, providing highly reliable structure while delivering a suave touch. With aeration, the wine finds its place, all the elements settling in an orderly, well-defined way. One finds oneself wishing for a bit more depth, as the wine stirs aspirations of excellence, and then realizes, all the same, that one is savoring one of the vintage’s greatest successes. It clearly needs some cellaring to blossom, but the impatient will also take pleasure, because a great wine, like this one, is almost always good!

Very dark color with black and purple highlights. Highly aromatic nose, delicate, fruity, pure, subtle and noble. A touch of blackberry jelly, dark fruits and licorice. Fleshy from the attack and immediately meticulous in texture, the wine shines with its feel and mid-palate flesh. It melts on the palate—juicy, nuanced, complex, deep and noble—with superb construction that brings out a sense of sophistication, purity and depth. A great, refined wine. Blend: 40% cabernet franc, 35% cabernet sauvignon, 25% merlot. Alcohol: 13.5% natural – pH: 3.60. Ageing: 70% new barrels, 20% 18‑hl foudres, 10% amphora.

Its location protected it from severe frost; the precision and the 75% Cabernet (Franc and Sauvignon) give it structure: plentiful, very fine tannins, playing with an élevage of 70% new barrels, 20% foudres and 10% amphorae. A suave bouquet of flowers—rose and iris—then crunchy blackberry and licorice; the juicy, slender texture leads to a broad, mineral finish. Plenty of substance and energy—this is a wine apart.

The nose is attractive and offers power, controlled intensity, precision, an infusion-like character, a hint of darkness/density, and a discreet velvety/powdery touch. It reveals notes of vibrant wild blackberry, juicy/pulpy blackcurrant and, more delicately, camphor, combined with hints of crushed raspberry, fairly ripe blue fruits, as well as fine nuances of roasted cherry, violet, delicate touches of incense and black pepper, a subtle hint of cornflower, star anise, a discreet hint of roasted almond, and a subtle smoky note. The palate is fruity and offers juiciness, freshness, good definition, acidity, indulgence, lovely energy, a stretched/tense profile, good structure, complexity, depth, and finesse. On the palate, this wine expresses notes of juicy/fresh raspberry, fresh/elegant bigarreau cherry and, more slightly, small tangy/juicy red berries, combined with hints of violet and cornflower, as well as fine touches of star anise and sap, a subtle hint of camphor/incense, graphite, roasting, a hint of hazelnut, very discreet varietal nuances, and pleasant bitterness (in the background). The tannins are fine, elegant, racy. A lovely expression of cabernet franc in harmony and elegance.