The 2009 Chateau Haut Brion 2022 Ex-Chateau Release is a Bordeaux Blend hailing from the renowned Pessac Leognan sub-region in Bordeaux, France. This wine is distinguished by its deep garnet hue and a robust alcohol content of 14.5%. It features a classic cork closure, maintaining its traditional winemaking heritage.
James Suckling lauds this wine as "extravagant and exotic, but still lively," awarding it a perfect score of 100. He emphasizes its "super-concentrated and elegant" nature, with a "super-long, perfectly balanced finish," indicating both its immediate appeal and potential for long-term aging. Jeff Leve echoes this sentiment, also granting it 100 points, remarking on the "off the hook aromas of smoked truffle, cigar box, tobacco," and describing the wine as an "incredible blend of elegance, power, and sensuality."
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate also awards a perfect score, noting its deep color and slightly shy initial nose that evolves into "sensuous notions of warm blackberries, plum preserves, mulberries," and a "very firm frame of ripe, grainy tannins." This review highlights the wine's complexity and layered depth.
Decanter gives the wine a 98, praising its "rich, intense nose of damson, blackberry and olive paste," and its "balanced but well built" structure. Wine Spectator adds to the praise with a score of 98, describing it as an "enormous young wine" with an "iron-clad grip" that will evolve over decades.
Vinous rates it at 97, noting its "fine tannin, perfect acidity," and the complexity it has gained over the years. Finally, Wine Enthusiast rates it 96, recognizing its "solid, very structured" nature with "dense and dry tannins."
Overall, the 2009 Chateau Haut Brion is a wine of remarkable depth, complexity, and aging potential, earning high praise across the board from esteemed wine critics.