2012 La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan

“The 2012 La Mission Haut-Brion is medium to deep garnet colored. It sashays out with showy scents of Morello cherries, blackcurrant pastilles, and black cherry preserves, plus hints of cinnamon toast, clove oil, candied violets, and licorice. The full-bodied palate is rich and seductive, with plush, velvety tannins and loads of spice and mineral nuances on the long, long finish. This is a classic, stunning La Mission. The blend is 62% Merlot and 38% Cabernet Franc. (LPB)” (02/2023)

“Continuing to show brilliantly, the 2012 La Mission Haut-Brion is a quintessential Graves, boasting a deep purple color as well as heavenly aromatics of blackcurrants, tobacco, scorched earth, graphite, and licorice. It’s a big, full-bodied beauty yet has a weightless, elegant style, building tannins, and a great finish. It needs a solid hour in a decanter if drinking today and promises to evolve beautifully for another 3-4 decades.” (11/2019)

“As for the 2012 La Mission Haut Brion, this wine (41% of the total production) continues to perform as it has for nearly a century. At first-growth levels of quality, this is s stunning wine that is full-bodied and very concentrated with notes of graphite, subtle charcoal embers, crème de cassis, blackberry and underlying subtle earthiness. The wine is full and powerful, rich and concentrated. And sure enough, the alcohol level tips the scales at 15% from a blend 62% Merlot and 38% Cabernet Franc. This is a big, blockbuster La Mission Haut Brion that should age effortlessly for 30-40+ years. However, the tannins suggest that this wine should not be touched for another 5-6 years, as its one of the more backward of the 2012 Pessac-Léognans. Bravo! (RP)” (04/2015)

“Ripe roasted fruit with considerable extract and personality. Full, powerful mid-palate and length of flavour. This benefited in 2012 from the property’s early-ripening terroir. (SP)” (03/2022)

“A wine that vibrates with life, generous, juicy, full of momentrum and pulsing minerality, ripe red and black fruits, with orange peel, saffron, clove, sage, complex and studded with succulent appeal. Interesting to note the high alcohols, showing even as far back as 2012 its location in the thermal corridor of urban Bordeaux was having an impact, but they are well balanced, adding flesh to the texture rather than heat. 75% new oak.” (03/2022)

“This is closed up, dry and tough on the outside. But you can feel the rich weight and the dark tannins along with the powerful structure. That makes this wine both replete with a firm character and also full of generous, concentrated black fruits. It’s a powerful wine, ready for good aging. *Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2015* (RV)” (05/2015)

“Poured from a standard bottle, this displays good density, and an elegantly fading rim. The nose opens with a classically floral character, combining notes of peony with dark chocolate, currants and peppered black beans. It is classically styled and very typical of the domaine. The palate is nothing short of beautiful, textured with creamed damson and current yet also displaying great energy with fabulous drive beneath the substance. This has delicious style, showing both grit and polish, and yet while it shows admirable vivacity the core of the wine is still wrapped up in tannins which persist into the long finish. This is of excellent quality, nevertheless it needs more time for the tannins to release their grip and allow it to show its full potential. Hold for now.” (04/2022)

“Classic La Mission with Cabernet plus warm bricks and a really distinctive appeal with some liquorice notes. Long and really rather glorious! 18/20 points (JR)” (04/2022)