This is very, very long and intense with velvety tannins and plenty of sweet tobacco, cedar and dark berry aromas and flavors. Already open and delicious to drink. This is difficult to say it’s 2013. Fantastic for the vintage. Only 45% of the normal production.

This wine is structured with impressively ripe fruit. Black-plum juice and blackberries are balanced with a strong tannic content that gives the wine backbone and structure. It has weight, although with its already exuberant fruitiness, it is not likely to be really long-term wine. Drink from 2024. From 120 acres, only the best grapes go into this top wine and 2013 was a smaller crop than the average (10,000 to 12,000 cases). Believed to be the oldest of the five Bordeaux first growths, Haut- Brion has been in the Clarence Dillon family since 1935. The current president is Prince Robert de Luxembourg. — R.V.

Looking back at my En Primeur notes, I wrote 'just love Haut-Brion in difficult vintages, always such a lesson in expert winemaking', and I stand by that comment at the 10 years mark. This is gorgeous, with a density of fruit that elevates it above most. Clear woodsmoke and charcoal twist, with grip and even a hint of length. Characterful and although again we are in drinking window territory, and this is a great opportunity to open and enjoy a 1st growth within living memory of buying it En Primeur if you did so. 45% of production in this wine.

Perhaps the wine of the vintage with its fresh, sweet, black raspberries, cassis and earthy personality. The wine offers volume for the difficult year and the type of personality that many wines in 2013 are lacking. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/search-wine-tasting-notes/?szSearch=2013+Haut+Brion

The 2013 Haut-Brion is medium garnet in color. It reveals notions of dried Provence herbs, graphite, and cedar to begin, opening out to a core of stewed red and black plums and dried mulberries plus a touch of tobacco leaf. The medium-bodied palate is beautifully knit, with loads of black fruit and savory nuances framed by fine-grained tannins, finishing with a lively skip in its step.

Haut-Brion wisely aimed to produce a wine of charm and finesse rather than power. The nose is reticent and less open than that of its stablemate La Mission. On the palate; it's easygoing and silky, with little weight or density, but a light structure, polished tannins, and enough acidity to ensure freshness and a long, fluid finish.

The 2013 Haut Brion has perhaps a little more complexity on the nose compared to the 2013 La Mission Haut-Brion at the moment. There is more depth and plenty of attractive fruit: cranberry, wild strawberry, hickory and a scintilla of scorched earth that becomes quite peaty with time. It is well defined and shows impressive focus. The palate is very well balanced with tensile tannin, a keen thread of acidity, lively in the mouth with more weight and presence than La Mission, though perhaps without quite the same precision at the moment. It still cuts away just a little short on the finish, but this is a decent Haut-Brion that may pull ahead of its "sibling" with bottle age. - Neal Martin

The 2013 Haut-Brion offers light loam and forest floor scents, missing its usual fruit intensity as you would expect, though it presents pressed flower and dry tobacco with further aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins. Cohesive with a little more body than La Mission, this has a finely-tuned, pure finish with clove and white pepper hints. This is persistent on the finish in the context of the season. Classy. Tasted at Bordeaux Index's 10-Year On tasting. -- Neal Martin

This has a lovely core of lightly steeped plum, blackberry and black currant fruit, which has already melded with tar and sweet tobacco notes to gain a rounded feel. Presents an ample spine for structure and length, with a hint of warm paving stone at the very end. Best from 2017 through 2025. 5,900 cases made. — JM