The 2019 Château La Mission Haut-Brion is Merlot-dominated, checking in as 53% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc. It's a more opulent wine compared to Haut-Brion, and the Merlot is front and center here, with ripe, sexy black cherry and redcurrant fruits as well as licorice, scorched earth, cedar pencil, and graphite aromas and flavors. Rich, exuberant, and straight up sexy on the palate, it's full-bodied, has a deep, layered mid-palate, building tannins, and a heavenly finish. Just a prodigious, powerful, off-the-charts expression of this terroir, it actually reminds me slightly of the 2005 (or 1998?) with its mix of sexiness and opulence. This is one of the few 2019s that will make your eyes roll back in your head. It will need 10-15 years of cellaring, but it’s a sensational wine on every level and will have 40+ years of prime drinking

The 2019 La Mission Haut-Brion is composed of 53% Merlot, 39.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7.5% Cabernet Franc, harvested from the 11th of September to the 2nd of October. The estimated label alcohol degree is 14.5%. Very deep purple-black in color, it slowly unfurls in the glass to reveal a beguiling perfume of violets, Black Forest cake, wild blueberries and kirsch with nuances of star anise, cast-iron pan, pencil lead and crushed rocks plus a waft of wild sage. The full-bodied palate is densely laden with layers of black fruit, earth and floral-laced flavors, framed by exquisitely ripe, finely grained tannins and compelling freshness, finishing with great length and loads of mineral sparks. A wine of impeccable breeding, both decadently flamboyant and provocatively graceful, this is already a prodigious wine of indisputable beauty.