2018 Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

Diam closure. Nearly 50% Sémillon.

Very uncommunicative on the nose. Light greenness. There is lots of acidity – notably more than most of these 2018 dry white Bordeaux. Depth and finesse but very much less rich than most of its peers.

Drink 2023 - 2032

Harvested 27 August to 5 September. 3.27pH.

It's a knockout white wine full of character and grip. It's the second time it's had a majority of Sauvignon Blanc along with the 2016) because they really benefitted from the freshness that it provided.

Drink 2021 - 2035

A richer, more textured wine than the Haut-Brion Blanc, no doubt due to its larger Sémillon content, the 2018 Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc reveals a medium gold hue as well as beautiful pineapple, honeyed lime, star fruit, and floral aromas and flavours. Nicely concentrated on the palate, it's medium to full-bodied and offers beautiful acidity, plenty of depth and richness, and a great finish.A slightly softer wine, it doesn't have the precision of its countermate yet brings more texture and opulence. It's another brilliant white that will benefit from short-term cellaring and evolve for 15+ years or so.

Drink 2021 - 2036

Tasted side by side, the 2018 La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc is unequivocally a few steps ahead of the 2018 Haut-Brion Blanc. I made sure to decant my bottle for three hours before penning a single note, as it always demands aeration. Slightly deeper in colour, which is nothing unusual, it has a more complex bouquet of yellow fruit, peach skin, almond shavings, hazelnut and light lanolin notes, all beautifully defined.

The palate is extremely well balanced with a tangy, marmalade-tinged entry, dried honey and a slight pepperiness toward the finish. Very cohesive and focused, this is a marvellous, quite cerebral La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc. Superb.

Drink 2022 - 2050

The La Mission Haut-Brion 2018 Blanc is a blend of 57.4% Sauvignon Blanc and 42.6% Sémillon. It sashays out of the glass with gregarious notes of white peaches, fresh pears and pineapple with nuances of lime blossoms, crushed rocks and sea spray, plus a waft of beeswax. The racy, medium to full-bodied palate is charged with energy, delivering vibrant citrus and tropical fruit layers with a satiny texture and fantastic length.

Completely exceeding my barrel-tasting expectations, this promises to be an earlier drinking style, albeit multilayered, dripping with class, and, yes, it's downright sexy. Give it just a few more months in bottle, and then it should offer decadent drinking for the next 15+ years.

Drink 2022 - 2037

Dried green mango, kiwi, citrus and green apple on the nose. Essence of grapes. Some stone and flint undertones, too. It’s full-bodied and very tight with layers of fruit and phenolics, yet so integrated and polished. It spreads across the palate—elegance with power.

Drink in 2025