La Clarté de Haut Brion 2018

About The Producer Chateau Haut Brion

Château Haut-Brion was, if one may say so, the first in everything. The oldest of the Bordeaux crus, its history began in 1553 when Jean de Pontac bought the fiefdom of Haut-Brion. A century later, his grandson created the notion of "cru" at a time when most wines were sold anonymously. Already concerned about quality, he opened up to the science of wine making and practiced racking and became an adept of barrel aging. Later, in 1855, this Graves wine logically joined the ranks of the first classified crus alongside the Médoc wines. In the meantime, the Château has known illustrious owners such as Commynes, Beyermann, and especially Talleyrand, all of whom were driven by the same concern for quality. In 1935 it was bought by Clarence Dillon, and remains today the property of his descendants. Centuries of success have not dampened the desire for innovation: in the 1960s the estate was the first to use new stainless steel fermentation tanks, and more recently it was the first to seek to improve its grape varieties through clonal selection. Jean-Bernard Delmas, the current director, continues to pursue this quest for quality that so characterizes this magnificent estate.