There was once a place in Pessac-Léognan called Château La Tour Haut-Brion. The wine was strong and elegant. It had its own soul.

Now it is gone.

It went the way of the Dodo. No fire. No storm. Instead the end came softly, as if time had closed its hand.

Collectors hunt the last bottles. They pour the wine and taste more than fruit and earth. They taste memory. They taste loss.

So we raise a glass. To Château La Tour Haut-Brion.

It lived with grace.

The Way of the Dodo

I remember first time I tasted this wine. It was different. It was intense, dark and deep and had an austere element with notes of tar, asphalt, liquorice and sweet cigar-box. There was something old-fashioned, in the best sense of this word, over it. No other Bordeaux wine I had tasted previously had expressed this personality. Furthermore, the label and capsule were iconic to this wine. They were sprawling with intense bronzed tones that resembled no other chateau. This was and could only ever be La Tour Haut-Brion.

The wine itself was always a very dark and intense one due to a high percentage of vin du press being utilized. This helped form the structure and personality of this unique wine making it both interesting, different and fascinating.

Contrary to belief, and even though it was made in the same cellars, this was not a second wine of La Mission Haut-Brion, but a separate wine made by the then owners, the Woltner family, since they purchase of the château in 1924.

Though different in style, in some vintages it almost surpassed its bigger brother, La Mission Haut-Brion, with its voluptuous, dark, old-fashioned style.

If this was behind the rationale to discontinue it after the 2005 vintage and blend it in with La Mission Haut-Brion I cannot tell, but Bordeaux has lost one of its true originals both in terms of the wine and its singular build and expression.