2012

La Clarence de Haut-Brion

Similar in style and elegance to its elder, the Château Haut-Brion red, this second wine brings together all the unique attributes of a fine wine, while reaching maturity more quickly. This wine has carried the name Château Bahans Haut-Brion since the first years of the twentieth century and was renamed Le Clarence de Haut-Brion beginning with the 2007 vintage, as a tribute to Clarence Dillon, who acquired the property in 1935.

Tasting notes

The nose seems understated and reserved at first.
However, fine red fruit aromas appear with aeration along with
overtones of slightly toasty oak. 2012 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion
is full-bodied and powerful with pronounced tannin on the middle
palate that tightens up the structure.
This tannin is also responsible for the beautiful long aftertaste. 

The weather

The 2012 vintage was uneven from bud break, which was disturbed by a cool, wet month of April, to véraison (color change), which took place over a long period. Fortunately, the months of July and August 2012 were ideal: warm and dry.  This fine summer weather enabled us to do everything possible in the vineyard in order to make up for the poor spring weather. For two months, our team worked meticulously to make ripening as homogeneous as possible, and removed any green grapes at véraison.The harvest for both red and white wines began under sunny skies.2012 is a truly fine vintage for early-ripening terroirs such as ours. 

 

A few figures

  • Harvest dates

    From September 17th to October 9th

  • Blend

    Merlot: 41%
    Cabernet Sauvignon: 43%
    Cabernet Franc: 14 %.
    Petit Verdot: 2%

  • New barrels

    31%

  • Alcohol

    14.5% 

  • Bottling date

    From July 3rd to 7th 2014

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