Wine Chateau Haut-Brion Rouge, Pessac-Leognan AOC 1-er Grand Cru Classe, 2006

"And there we were drinking French wine called O-Brion, the most delicious and unusual wine I have ever tasted ..." - from the records of Samuel Pepys from April 10, 1663 - British officials of the Navy Department, author of the famous diary of daily life Londoners period Styuartovskoy Restoration.

2006 - an outstanding year, characterized by contrasting weather conditions that led to the uneven ripening of berries. Vintage Merlot grapes began to gather on September 7, Cabernet Franc - 18 September and Cabernet Sauvignon - 21 of September. Vintage 2006 has a more dense color, high alcohol content and strong, ripe tannins.

In the manufacture of wine Chateau Haut Brion, after gathering grapes subjected to destemming and pressing, and then placed in a special double fermentation tank at the top of the fermentation takes place, and the bottom - malolactic fermentation, and the movement of the wine takes place by 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 According to historical documents, this wine was served King Charles II of England in 1660.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.