This is the second wine of Chateau Haut-Brion, which prior to this vintage was labelled ‘Bahans de Haut-Brion’. At around £40 a bottle, it isn’t cheap. It sort of delivers, but this isn’t a wildly pleasurable wine at the moment, although it does have some savoury interest.

Le Clarence de Haut Brion 2007 Pessac-Leognan, Bordeaux
13% alcohol. Deep coloured. Unyielding at first. Begins to open out after a couple of hours with taut blackcurrant fruit and a firm, savoury, spicy, slightly roasted edge. The palate has a strongly savoury, earthy, mineral grip but also shows tight-wound blackcurrant fruit. It’s not a rich, fruity wine: currently quite firm and closed with spicy, drying tannins. But there’s some seriousness here. Intellectual rather than hedonistic. 90/100

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