Château Haut-Brion

Two manuscripts in the Departmental Archives of the Gironde, dating from 1521 and 1526, use the term 'cru' for the locations of 'Aubrion' and 'Haulbrion', the earliest known written mention of the wine. Jean de Pontac married Jeanne de Bellon in 1525, and her dowry was a portion of the Haut-Brion land; in 1533 he acquired the manorial rights from a Basque merchant, Jean Duhalde, and in 1549 he began building the château. Jean de Pontac (d. 1589) was followed by his son Arnaud II de Pontac, then by his nephew Geoffroy in 1605, and then by Geoffroy's son Arnaud III de Pontac, who added a wing to the château and doubled the surface area of the vineyard. After the English monarchy was restored in 1660, Charles II served Château Haut-Brion at his table for the first time in the year of his coronation, and in 1663 Samuel Pepys wrote in his journal of drinking 'a sort of French wine called Ho Bryan'. In 1666 Arnaud III sent his son François-Auguste de Pontac to London with a French chef, and there they opened a tavern called Pontack's Head. John Locke visited the estate on May 14, 1677, and on May 25, 1787 Joseph de Fumel received Thomas Jefferson there. Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord bought the estate in 1801 and sold it in 1804. Joseph Eugène Larrieu bought the château in 1836, and three generations of the Larrieu family owned it until 1896. In the 1855 classification Château Haut-Brion was named one of the four Premiers Grands Crus Classés for red wine, alongside Margaux, Lafite and Latour. Phylloxera hit the vineyard in 1880, and it was rebuilt on a rootstock from North America, Vitis riparia. The estate was one of the first to bottle its wine systematically at the property, from 1923 onwards. André Gibert bought it in January 1925, and the purchase by New York banker Clarence Dillon was finalised on May 13, 1935. In September 1939 the château was converted into a hospital for wounded officers of the French Army. In 1953 Haut-Brion was classified for its red wine in the classification of the Graves, and in 1987 the northern part of the Graves was given the separate appellation of Pessac-Léognan.

• 1521: earliest known written mention of the wine; 1533: Jean de Pontac acquired the manorial rights; 1549: building of the château began.
• 1855: one of the four Premiers Grands Crus Classés for red wine, alongside Margaux, Lafite and Latour.
• 1923: systematic bottling at the estate began; May 13, 1935: purchase by Clarence Dillon finalised.
• 1953: classified for red wine in the classification of the Graves; 1987: the Pessac-Léognan appellation was created.

Domaine Clarence Dillon is a family company managed by the fourth generation of the dynasty Clarence Dillon founded in 1935. After the purchase, his nephew Seymour Weller managed the estate. In 1975 Joan Dillon, Clarence Dillon's granddaughter, succeeded Seymour Weller at the head of the company and was Chairwoman until 2008; her husband, the Duke of Mouchy, was Managing Director from 1979 until 2002. Her son Prince Robert of Luxembourg became a full-time member of the management team in June 1997, was appointed Managing Director in 2002 and became Chairman in 2008. Jean-Philippe Delmas is Deputy Managing Director, Wines and Estates; Jean-Philippe Masclef is Technical Director; Florence Forgas is Cellar Master; and Grégoire Bucaille is Vineyard Manager, having taken over from Pascal Baratié. Jean-Philippe Delmas is the third generation of his family in charge of producing the wines: his grandfather Georges Delmas arrived at Château Haut-Brion in December 1923, and he succeeded his father, Jean-Bernard Delmas.

• Chairman of Domaine Clarence Dillon: Prince Robert of Luxembourg, great-grandson of Clarence Dillon, since 2008.
• Jean-Philippe Delmas, Deputy Managing Director, Wines and Estates; Jean-Philippe Masclef, Technical Director.
• Florence Forgas, Cellar Master, with Domaine Clarence Dillon since 2014; Grégoire Bucaille, Vineyard Manager.

The vineyard lies in the commune of Pessac, a few miles southwest of Bordeaux's city center, in the Pessac-Léognan appellation to the north of the Graves wine-growing region. The property faces Château La Mission Haut-Brion and shares the same gravelly terrace. The gravel is made up of small pebbles of various types of quartz, over a subsoil of clay, sand, limestone and shelly sand; its deposits vary in thickness from 20 centimetres to more than 3 metres and form mounds whose slopes give natural drainage, helped by small watercourses such as the Peugue and the Serpent, tributaries of the Garonne. The vineyard covers 51 hectares: 48 are planted with red varieties (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) and about 3 hectares with white varieties (Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris). The vines are planted at a density of 10,000 vines per hectare. The 1.31-hectare Allary Haut-Brion vineyard, lying within the confines of the estate, has been part of Château Haut-Brion since the 2012 vintage. No insecticides are used; spontaneous plant cover is kept as long as possible during the winter, and compost produced on the property from pruned vine shoots is added to each plot only as it needs. The grounds include a wooded area of 4 hectares, with a park of 3.5 hectares.

• 51 hectares in Pessac: 48 hectares of red varieties and about 3 hectares of white varieties.
• Quartz gravel 20 centimetres to more than 3 metres deep, over clay, sand, limestone and shelly sand.
• Planting density of 10,000 vines per hectare; the 1.31-hectare Allary Haut-Brion vineyard joined the estate from the 2012 vintage.

Grapes are picked by hand as they ripen, then sorted and de-stemmed. The vat room was modernised with new stainless steel vats in 1961, and a high-tech vat room was inaugurated in 1991. For the red wine, alcoholic fermentation takes place in an upper stainless steel tank and the wine then runs by gravity into a lower tank for malolactic conversion; no cultured yeast is used, and time on the skins ranges from 20 to 30 days depending on the vintage and grape variety. The outline of the final blend is drawn very early, and the final blend is the one presented at the en primeur tastings the following spring. The grand vin represents 35% to 45% of the estate's production. The best wines are selected for Château Haut-Brion and placed in barrels for 18 to 20 months; the percentage of new barrels is reviewed every year in light of the vintage, and was 75% for the 2024 red and 62.9% for the 2022 red. During maturation the wine is racked 'à l'esquive', through the small bunghole at the base of the barrel, with its clarity checked by the light of a candle.

• Hand harvest, sorting and de-stemming; stainless steel vats since 1961 and a high-tech vat room inaugurated in 1991.
• Red fermentation without cultured yeast, 20 to 30 days on the skins, malolactic conversion in a lower tank fed by gravity.
• Barrel ageing of 18 to 20 months for the grand vin, with the share of new barrels set each year.
• The grand vin represents 35% to 45% of the estate's production.

The lineup comprises four wines. Château Haut-Brion Rouge is the grand vin, and Château Haut-Brion Blanc is the estate's white. Le Clarence de Haut-Brion is the red second wine; it carried the name Château Bahans Haut-Brion from the first years of the twentieth century and was renamed beginning with the 2007 vintage, as a tribute to Clarence Dillon. La Clarté de Haut-Brion is a white made from grapes grown on the Haut-Brion terroir of both Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion; it has been sold under that name since the 2008 vintage, having once been Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion. The red blend changes with the vintage: the 2024 is 47.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37.5% Merlot and 15.3% Cabernet Franc, while the 2022 is 53.6% Merlot, 35.4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Cabernet Franc. The 2024 white is 56.1% Sémillon and 43.9% Sauvignon.

• Château Haut-Brion Rouge: the grand vin; 2024 blend of 47.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37.5% Merlot and 15.3% Cabernet Franc.
• Château Haut-Brion Blanc: 2024 blend of 56.1% Sémillon and 43.9% Sauvignon.
• Le Clarence de Haut-Brion: red second wine, under that name from the 2007 vintage (formerly Château Bahans Haut-Brion).
• La Clarté de Haut-Brion: white from Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion grapes, under that name since the 2008 vintage.

For Decanter, Jane Anson scored the 2016 at 98 points en primeur and gave it 100 points when she re-tasted it in bottle in December 2018. Her en primeur scores for the following vintages were 97 points for the 2017, 98 for the 2018 (98 again in bottle), 97 for the 2019 and 96 for the 2020.

• 2016: 100 points in bottle from Jane Anson for Decanter (December 2018).
• 2017 to 2020: 97, 98, 97 and 96 points en primeur from Jane Anson for Decanter.

The estate's note on its red reads: 'Elegant and complex, Château Haut-Brion red presents mineral aromas and a unique complexity.' It places the wine's strength in the finish, 'which is surprisingly long', and presents Le Clarence de Haut-Brion as 'similar in style and elegance to its elder' while 'reaching maturity more quickly.'

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.haut-brion.com/en/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/history/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/terroir/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/savoir-faire/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/the-wines/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/collections/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/the-wines/chateau-haut-brion-rouge/chateau-haut-brion-rouge-2024/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/the-wines/chateau-haut-brion-rouge/chateau-haut-brion-rouge-2022/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/the-wines/chateau-haut-brion-rouge/chateau-haut-brion-rouge-2015/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/the-wines/chateau-haut-brion-rouge/chateau-haut-brion-rouge-2010/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/the-wines/chateau-haut-brion-blanc/chateau-haut-brion-blanc-2024/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/the-wines/le-clarence-de-haut-brion/le-clarence-de-haut-brion-2022/, https://www.haut-brion.com/en/the-wines/la-clarte-de-haut-brion/la-clarte-de-haut-brion-2022/. Owner group site (Domaine Clarence Dillon): https://www.domaineclarencedillon.com/en/the-group/, https://www.domaineclarencedillon.com/en/history/. Secondary sources: Decanter (Charles Curtis MW, published 28 September 2023; Elin McCoy, last updated 12 December 2023; en primeur history, published 25 June 2021). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.