Chateau Haut-Bages Liberal Pauillac 2018

Alcohol: 13.5%

Grape(s): 80% cabernet sauvignon and 20% merlot

Localization: Pauillac, Bordeaux, France 

Tasting Notes: Pretty blackberries, blueberries and violets with some crushed-raspberry aromas follow through to a full body with wonderfully crafted and pure tannins that intertwine wonderfully with the blue fruit and blackberries. Long and endless. A triumph here. From biodynamically grown grapes. Try after 2026.

The Domain: Château Haut-Bages libéral benefits from its proximity to the Gironde estuary, but its history has nothing in common with that of a gently flowing river... In the early 18th century, the Libéral family, the owners of the Château, attached their name to the property, and forever changed its destiny. Over time, these astute connoisseurs acquired some of the finest terroirs in the south of the Pauillac appellation. Château Haut-Bages Libéral’s 30-hectare vineyard thus consists of three separate areas. They are all neighbours with 1855 classified growths: Château Latour, Château Pichon Baron de Longueville and Château Grand-Puy Lacoste. The 1855 classification crowned this ascent with the obtaining of the title of Grand CruClassé. Owners then followed one another, producing wines whose quality never seemed to be questioned. However, very few of them devoted sufficient energy and resources to enabling the property to reveal its true value. The vines were tended, Haut-Bages Libéral was managed, but no one ever gave the property the love it deserved! Major investments tended to be made in the great estates: the Cruse family strived to restore the prestige of their main property Pontet Canet, then came the turn of the Merlaut family, whose attention was monopolized by Château Chasse Spleen. And so, for several decades, Haut-Bages Libéral was put on the back burner. It was not until the arrival of Claire in 2000, the third generation of the Merlaut family, that this situation finally changed to the property’s advantage. With boundless energy, she replanted vineyard parcels with Cabernet Sauvignon to fully exploit the potential of Haut-Bages Libéral's terroir, and then undertook major renovation work on the winery and historic buildings. The challenge was met! With its new winery, the property no longer had to blush alongside its impressive Pauillac neighbours, and can now devote itself to its raison d’être: the production of a great wine, that exceeded expectations, even for an 1855 Cru Classé.