Wine Chateau Haut-Brion (Rouge) Pessac-Leognan AOC 1-er Grand Cru Classe 2004, 1.5 L

"And there we were drinking French wine called O-Brion, the most delicious and unusual wine I've ever tasted ..."
April 10, 1663 of the entries Samuel Pepys, the English officer of the Navy Department, author of the famous diary of the everyday life of Londoners period Styuartovskoy Restoration.

January 2004 was unusually rainy, but more natural disasters this year was not observed. Flowering occurred in early June in the beautiful weather. In the last two weeks of August began to rain, and the winemakers have decided to remove the leaves that covered the clusters. Due to such a maneuver at the time of harvest in mid-September the grapes were ripe and healthy.
When producing wines Chateau, after harvesting grapes subjected destemming and pressing, and then placed into a special double-fermentation tank in the upper part of the fermentation takes place, and at the bottom - malolactic fermentation in wine this movement occurs by means of gravity. Excerpt wine takes from 18 to 22 months in oak barrels, 80% of which - new. Every year it produces about 10-12 million cases of wine.

Château Haut-Brion has many jewels - it produces the oldest wine of Bordeaux, a member of the famous classification of Bordeaux wines, famous for the invention of a new style of wine in the XVII century and represents one of the most luxury wine brands in the world. Red wine Château Haut-Brion embodies the five centuries of winemaking tradition and plays a major role in the history of the world of wine.
According to ancient maps and other written sources, Château Haut-Brion already existed in the XIV century, which means that the estate is the oldest wine estate in Bordeaux. Chateau many times changed owners, sold, seized for debt. Unchanged until the XIX century was only one thing - high quality wines Chateau, which for its high reputation were the only ones of the Médoc included in the top five Cru classification of 1855, standing at the highest level along with Chateau Margaux, Château Lafite and Château Latour. According to historical documents, this wine was served King Charles II of England in 1660. XIX and early XX century were difficult for Chateau due to heavy damage to vineyards powdery mildew (mildew) and phylloxera, world war, economic depression and severe frost in 1956. But not only survived the Chateau and resisted, it continued its glorious path, opening in 1935, a new page in its history. It was then bought Chateau Clarence Dillon, American financier and wine lover, whose mother was French. Today, Château Haut-Brion controls the grandson of Clarence Dellona, ​​son of Joan Dillon and Prince Charles of Luxembourg, Prince Robert. He began to do business sector in 1992, and in 2002 was appointed general manager of the Chateau. In 2008, he became president of the Domain Clarence Dellona.

The vineyards of the estate are located in the region of Pessac, just a few miles from the center of Bordeaux. Soil vineyards, occupying 51 hectares, mostly gravel, composed of small stones, including quartz - this breed makes the taste of Château Haut-Brion so amazingly rich. The uniqueness of the terroir is reflected in the wines because of its unusual flowers with smoke, which combines the flavors of cigars, chocolate and cedar. This fragrance is maintained throughout the tasting and a long aftertaste, indicating extremely high quality wines. Are dominating the international red grape varieties - Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. They occupy about 48 hectares. But there is a small area of ​​white grapes and another small vineyard of 2 hectares in size, which are grown for atypical Bordeaux Malbec, Sangiovese and even Pinot Noir.