Haut Brion Blanc 2008

This stunningly rich blend of 55% Semillon and 45% Sauvignon Blanc exhibits great fruit intermixed with notes of lanolin, damp earth, graphite, honeyed citrus and orange butter. Drink this beauty over the next 2 decades.

Tasted ex-château and single blind in Southwold. The Haut Brion Blanc 2008 has a waxy, almond and coconut scented bouquet with good intensity, if showing slight oxidative notes in the background. The palate is well balanced with a fresh, vigorous entry and fine acidity, whilst the finish is very waxy in texture with intense Semillon notes. Difficult to penetrate now, but it should age well. N.B. A second bottle showed a lot of combined sulphur. Tasted January 2012.

Golden tinge. For a 2008 white, this is relatively fat. Passion fruit nose. Really racy and vibrant

(a 55/45 blend of semillon and sauvignon blanc) Medium-deep straw-gold, deeper than its stablemate Laville Haut-Brion. Rich nose offers fresh lemon, apple and pear aromas complicated by beeswax. Then less rich and broad on the palate than the nose had me expecting, but beautifully pure in its precise apple, pear and citrus flavors. Finishes very long and creamy, with a distinct lemony twist and a mineral element.

A blend of 55% Semillon and 45% Sauvignon Blanc cropped at 41hl/ha. This has very good intensity and complexity on the nose, citrus-fruits, pear, tangerine and white flowers. The palate has lovely poise, very fresh with green apple, green lemon, apricot, orange-blossom and passion fruit, leading to a very focused finish that lingers seductively