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With its 5-century-old vineyard, Château Carmes Haut Brion is a must in the Pessac-Léognan appellation.
It was in 1584 that the Catholic monks of the Grands Carmes order - who take their name from Mont Carmel, literally "God's Vineyard" - were offered land by the lord of the Haut Brion house, Jean de Potensac.
At that time, Domaine comprised only meadows, a few vines and a mill located on the Peugue river. It was only 50 years later that the monks decided to expand their vineyard by purchasing plots belonging to Haut Brion. For two centuries, they produced one of the region's most famous wines, while keeping the name Haut Brion, which became Carmes Haut Brion by custom.
Confiscated in 1791 during the French Revolution, it became Bien National and was only bought back a century later by wine merchant Léon Colin, illustrious ancestor of the Chantecaille family. The latter then had the Château we know today built and the park landscaped.
In 2010, Château was bought by Patrice Pichet, a big name in real estate and a long-time lover of the property. Anxious to do his utmost to bring Domaine to its apogee, he will have a new winery built and the vineyard redeveloped, putting oenologists Guillaume Pouthier and Stéphane Derenoncourt in charge.
Straddling... See more ...
2023 preview
That year... Commitment. Humility. Responsiveness. Lacework.
Autumn was slow to set in with the first cold spells and little water. Fortunately, the days would soon shorten and the vines would quietly enter winter. A calm, cool and rather Sec winter. Early mildness in March. A few shivers at the first buds, then rain. Mild and damp.
One, the other, both. It took the exceptional presence of the winemaking team to act with decisive precision and responsiveness. For us, this is the only way to take care of our vines: to be there, to observe and act to the millimetre, to the minute.
At the end of the summer, the map of the vintage is becoming clearer. The harvest is looking good, so we'll be able to be completely nuanced in our choices to express the singularity of each of these little places that make up Les Carmes wines.
In the winery, we're going even further in our vinification under racks. We're moving into a new phase with the use of custom-designed tools, building on our experiments with infusion in recent vintages. As for ageing, the further we advance, the more we are willing to abandon a set protocol in favor of a different approach for each wine, depending on its profile and progress. Choosing not to choose... in advance. Embrace this complexity. Plan to let ourselves be surprised, to taste what the wines tell us, to bring them rightly to the bottle, for several more exciting months.
Harvest dates: Sept. 11 to 25, 2023
Whole bunches: 60%
Maturation (in progress): 70% new barrels, 20% 18hl foudres, 10% amphoras.
From ample to tubular, the wines are now stretching out. Freshness and drinkability are the watchwords. An explosive delicacy, mineral finesse, a serene, resinous atmosphere, iris, violet, elderberry, black and acidic notes.
2023 Des lieux et des Hommes.
The Carmes winegrowers have inherited a place where soils, subsoils, history and the interpretation of the winegrowers who preceded them are evident. And then there are other, less visible treasures. You need to have walked the rows of vines once, ten times, a hundred times to perceive them: the atmosphere, the (micro)climate, the grape variety, the rootstock, a slope, water, companion plants, fauna, a venerable tree, woods, underground life. And isn't the weather - what it's like, what it takes - just as specific to each place?
Based on tasting discussions with Guillaume Pouthier and Guillaume Deschepper. Primeur samples February 2024.
