100
Jeb Dunnuck Tasting Note
The 2019 Château La Mission Haut-Brion is Merlot-dominated, checking in at 53% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc. It’s a more opulent wine compared to Haut-Brion, and the Merlot takes center stage here, with ripe, sexy black cherry and redcurrant fruit 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, with a deep, layered mid-palate, building tannins, and a heavenly finish. Simply 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 offer 40+ years of prime drinking.
95
Wine Spectator Tasting Note
Captures the essence of the vintage as well as possible, with a lovely swath of cassis, plum purée and cherry compote flavors that glides along, showing just enough buried spine in the form of alder and iron notes to give this form. Features alluring red tea and savory details that add range on the lengthy finish. Approachable already, but there's no rush here. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2023 through 2038.
100
Vinous Tasting Note
The 2019 La Mission Haut-Brion was picked from 11 September until 2 October at 52hl/ha. It is deep purple in colour. It has a very intense, what you might call quite "serious" bouquet with blackberry, wild hedgerow, crushed iris petals and a light estuarine influence. It shows exquisite delineation and focus. The palate is stunning with intense black fruit laced with crushed stone, sea salt, black pepper and cedar, almost Pauillac in style. This La Mission is so pixelated with stupendous intensity. After four hours it closes up and appears cowed by the presence of the expressive Haut-Brion. Yet after 8 hours it is unquestionably showing greater structure and depth than the First Growth and, as such, despite its mercurial nature, I wager that ultimately this will become one of the wines of the vintage. Breathtaking.
98
James Suckling Tasting Note
Blackcurrants and crushed stones with violets and roses. Earthy and black truffle notes, too. Medium to full body with firm, silky tannins that are layered and attractive, in a muscular and toned fashion. Iodine, ink, earth and bark with wet-vine undertones to the fruit at the end. Reserved and impressive. Best after 2025.
100
Wine Advocate Tasting Note
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.
