2010 | Château Haut-Bages Libéral | Pauillac

Medium-dark ruby. Fruity, bright aromas of red cherry, red berries and flowers, complicated by cedar and graphite. Then light and lively in the mouth, with strawberry, raspberry and smoky dark cherry flavors complicated by hints of white pepper and gunflint.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: One of the best efforts from this estate since the 1982, this wine remains fairly priced. It exhibits ripe blue and black fruits, a dense plum/purple color, good acidity buttressing a remarkably rich, fleshy, sumptuous texture, and oodles of smoky black currant and blueberry fruit. Ripe, heady and rich, this wine will probably benefit from 2-5 years of cellaring despite its precociousness and keep for two decades.

• Wine Spectator: Dark in profile and rather stolid, with a beam of currant, plum and fig allied to a prominent iron shaft that clamps down on the charcoal-textured finish. Showing rather austerely today, but has the length and cut to develop in the cellar. Best from 2015 through 2025.

Producer Information

Château Haut-Bages Libéral is a certified organic and biodynamic Bordeaux producer in the Pauillac appellation, making Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant red wine. It is one of the 18 estates deemed a Fifth Growth in the 1855 classification of the Médoc and Graves. The modern estate is has 30 hectares (74 acres) of vineyards. These are planted roughly with around 75 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 25 percent Merlot. Parcels are located in several locations within Pauillac. The largest is situated next to Château Latour, with a smaller section by the winery and chateau, down the road next to Château Pichon Lalande. Both lie relatively close to the Gironde estuary, while the third plot lies further inland near Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste. Soils are mainly deep gravel over a limestone base. Organic and Biodynamic certification was achieved in 2019. The wine is made and 16 stainless steel tanks and 16 cement vats all with temperature control. Volumes range from 4700 to 17,000 liters (approximately 1250 to 4500 US liquid gallons). From 2018 a 20 percent component of the wine has been aged in amphorae. The remainder is aged in French oak barrels, with 40 percent new wood, for 14 to 18 months. Besides its grand vin, Libéral makes a pair of second wines, La Chapelle de Bages and La Fleur de Haut-Bages Libéral. The third wine is Le Haut-Médoc de Haut-Bages Libéral. This can be 100 percent Merlot. The name references the site of the château on top of the small Bages plateau that falls between the communes Pauillac and Saint-Julien. It is also named for the Libéral family, négociants (wine brokers) who owned the property in the 18th Century, and helped establish the reputation that made it a classed growth. For a number of years the wines were made at neighboring Château Pontet-Canet when both properties were owned by the Cruse family. They owned Haut-Bages Libéral from 1960 to 1983. Then they sold Libéral to the Taillan Group headed by Jacques Merlaut. Merlaut's granddaughter Claire Villars-Lurton has owned and managed Haut-Bages Libéral, as well as Ferrière and La Gurgue (both in Margaux) since 2000. Together with her husband Gonzague Lurton's property Château Dufort-Vivens, they form the G&C Lurton group.

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