Les Carmes Haut Brion 2025 EP | Pessac Leognan
17% Merlot, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, 54% Cabernet Franc
Wij bezochten Les Carmes Haut-Brion onmiddellijk na het bezoek aan Haut-Brion, waar Carmes net naast ligt en waarvan het in het vereleden deel uitmaakte. We proefden de wijnen met Guillaume Pouthier himself, en als ik zelf punten moest geven aan alle rode Bordeaux 2025 die ik proefde zou dit zeker niet lager scoren dan Haut Brion zelf. En nog iets dichter in de buurt van 100 komen...
Vinous (A. Galloni) 96-98 P
The 2025 Les Carmes Haut-Brion is a huge, powerful wine that is going to need many years to come into its own. Dark red/purplish fruit, lavender, incense, melted road tar and licorice make a bold entrance. Fertility in the Merlots was low. As a result, the 2025 has the highest amount of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon ever, 83% in total as opposed to the more typical 70% or so. Whole clusters, always a part of the approach here, are 65%. Time on skins was 45 days at 27°C (80.6°F) compared to the 35 days at 30°C (86°F) that is more typical. Readers will find an especially deep, potent Carmes, a wine that will need the better part of a decade to shed some of its considerable baby fat. It's a telling example of the vintage, with 1% less alcohol than in most recent years. Today the 2025 is a mere infant. It's another exceptional wine from Technical Director Guillaume Pouthier and his team.
Vinous (N. Martin) 95-96 P
The 2025 Les Carmes Haut-Brion comes from clay-limestone soils and was picked from September 7 to 19, with a high level of Cabernet Franc (54%) and lower Merlot (17%). This vintage has 65% whole cluster, similar to 2022, raised in 70% new oak barrels, 19% in 18hl foudres and 11% amphoras. This takes time to open on the nose: blacker, darker fruit than the Le C, black plum and touches of iris flower. Very pure, very well defined. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly chalky tannins on the entry, crunchy in the mouth, black fruit interlaced with Earl Grey, subtle ash-like notes. Linear towards the finish but very sustained in the mouth, there is plenty of energy in this Les Carmes-Haut-Brion and it should age with style and grace. More sapidity on the finish than the Dead Sea. 13.1% alcohol.
Yves Beck 100, Jean Marc Quarin 100, Terre de Vins 98-99, Vinous (96-98), Alexandre Ma 98-99, Le Figaro 97-99, Markus Del Monego 98, Vinum 98-100, Decanter 97, Revue du Vin de France 97-98, James Suckling (99-100), Wine Advocate (95-98)
Drink 2033-2075