Château La Mission Haut-Brion 2013

This wine is rich while at the same time having a stalky character that gives smokiness, texture and acidity. These combine with black-currant flavors that finish the wine with great freshness. It's a light vintage for this estate, fruity and certainly for the medium-term. Drink from 2020. The estate has been in the Dillon family since 1985. Roger Voss. January 2016.

Rouge rubis aux reflets violets. Bouquet filigrane révélant des notes de thé noir et fruits rouges. Attaque élégante, savoureuse et compacte. Très belle précision, caractère juteux. Un vin d’évolution lente, prometteur. 2020-2043. Décembre 2015.

A sweet oakiness marks the red-fruited nose, and there's welcome purity and aromatic intensity. Rich and juicy, it's quite full-bodied and concentrated. The tannins are light and lack the virility of Mission at its best, but overall the wine is polished and elegant with some freshness on the lingering finish. Drinking window: 2023 - 2028. Stephen Brook. February 2023.

Couleur sombre, intense et belle. Nez fin, fruité, pur, mûr et précis. Nuances d'encre, de vanille, de mûre. Cette précision se retrouve de l'entrée jusqu'en milieu de bouche, où le vin se présente savoureux et finement tramé avant de s'achever sur une présence tannique plus appuyée, tandis que la construction d'ensemble reste belle. Mars 2016.

The 2013 La Mission Haut Brion, a blend of 65% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, has a very pretty bouquet. It is not intense or powerful, as you would anticipate given the growing season, but it unfurls in the glass to reveal wild strawberry, raspberry and dried quince scents, augmented by dried orange peel and bay leaf scents. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin on the entry. This is fresh in the mouth, focused and in the context of the 2013 vintage, quite vivacious, full of energy, especially on the finish. While it might lack the depth, that Merlot lends it the fleshiness that lifts this La Mission Haut Brion above others. Drinking window: 2019 - 2032. Neal Martin. October 2016.