Jay Kline

9.4

Opened a few hours prior to service and enjoyed over the course of an hour. This bottle of the 1986 was re-corked at the chateau in 2011. The wine pours a deep garnet color with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is vinous with notes of ripe and some dried dark and red fruits: black currants, brambles, black plum, tobacco, pencil shavings, some dried flowers, green pepper, leather, some earth and a gentle mix of cool and warm spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long. This seemed evergreen and this bottle spending most of its life in the cellars of the chateau likely has a lot to do with that. Fabulous stuff. Drink now through 2046. — 9 days ago

David Kline

9.8

Incredible depth of color rim to rim without variation. Inky. Showing slight brick under strong light. Nose of rye toast, tobacco, turned earth, black cherry, oak bark, crumbly roses, dried lavender, and sage. Descriptors do not do justice to the seamless whole of the smells, which are sewn together with espresso and bay leaf, allspice and forest notes. Smooth and silky tannins slip over medium mouthfeel of dried mushroom and graphite, re-emerge as round textural tapestries, filled with candle smoke, dark, rich cherry and ripe black currants. A stunner that needed days of exposure to fully emerge. Enticing and exquisite.




#chateauhautbrion #hautbrion #premiergrandcruclassé #2009 #pessacléognan #graves #bordeaux #leftbankbordeaux #leftbank #grandcruclasséde1855 — 2 years ago

with Courtney

Paula Strebig

9.0

Bright, bing cherry color, copious legs on the swirl, subtle notes of chocolate covered cherries on the nose. Easy sipping, dry, cherry pits with hints of plum, smooth tannins on the finish. Pleasant wine with Mexican re-do dinner on the lanai with Tim and Kendra — 3 years ago

with Tim

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.3

2015 vintage. Medium-heavy body. Coffee grounds/mocha nose. Deep color. enuff grip and plenty of chonk. Ridiculous pricing for this vineyard/these grapes. Noticeably without the over the top, reductive flavors espoused by Napa's "finest" re: this vineyard the last decade+. Not exactly a declaration of independence but definitely passive-aggressive and non-compliant. Doubt you'll find it but if you do, worth a flirtatious comment and a wink. 06.18.25. — 19 days ago

Jay Kline

9.2

Popped and poured. The 2012 pours a deep ruby, with a near opaque core; medium+ viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is vinous with notes of blackberries, desiccated cherries, prune, pipe tobacco, new leather, purple flowers, wet rocks, and baking spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+ and quite satisfying. The texture is luxurious. This drinking well now and should continue to do so for a least a few more years but why wait? — a year ago

Robertocheese

9.7

Tanning central! a special experiance this is not to be missed the flavour that perculated after 2 sips was spellbounding. Then i was smitten — 3 years ago

Benjamin Hickey

9.3

Grippy, good balance of texture and savoury — 3 years ago

Alan Weinberg

9.1

Wish I knew the base year and other relevant info re this bottle. I’ve had it a couple years. Lovely stuff. Since they claim to make 1911 bottles, what do they do with the rest if “more” is vinified? — 8 months ago

Wulf Losee

9.6

I’m going to leave my original review up, but if you want my final review of the this wine, scroll down to the bottom.

My original rating was 9.1– Pine and a hint of leather on the nose. Currents on the front of the palate. Medium tannic structure—but not much going on on the mid palate. Ends with a lot of tart high notes on the finish. There is a pleasant mineral astringency that lingers after one swallows. I rather like that. I’m going to let this sit for a half an hour to see if the tartness of the finish mellows out a bit. There’s not much here to open up though. this is a perfectly fine wine, but it’s not QC’s best. Slightly disappointed.

Update: after being left in a decanter for an hour and a half (I got distracted) the fruit on the front and the mineral finish faded, leaving the astringency at the back of the palate with tannins that were unable to balance the bitterness. This is a wine that’s best guzzled quickly [at least if you intend to drink the wine today— see my further comments below].

Updated rating, two days later: 9.6!
Oh my! Because this wine didn’t seem very exceptional, I put the remainder in an empty plastic water bottle. I squeezed out most of the air and I capped it and left it for two days. I certainly wasn’t expecting much when I drank it tonight, But it went from OK to fantastic! Bouquet was 100 percent leather. The fruit had faded on the front, but the tannins from front to back are now intriguingly complex. Lots of earth, and mineral notes all along the palate, and the finish is longer. Yummy!

The moral is don’t bother to decant this sucker. Open the bottle, at least 24 hours before you intend to drink it, and do the French thing of pouring off half a glass and then re-corking the bottle. Truly an amazing transformation!
— 2 years ago

Ian Hamel

9.4

A really gorgeous bouquet, with tertiary development but still “on point” with dark and red fruit, meatiness, flowers, etc. It smells like only Northern Rhone syrahs with some age can. The palate went through some phases - it started with lots of black olive, but more fruit and a balancing acidity re-emerged. Not huge and with a certain polish and restraint also. You always wonder what five more years would do, but really, it could be different but hardly better. Had with roast rack of venison with an allspice, clove and wild pepper wine sauce 2020/1/6. — 6 years ago