2016 | Château La Mission Haut-Brion

Name: 2016, Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan
Brand: Thienpont Wine
SKU: 2016066-00750
Price: 664.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

Pessac-Léognan

This is the first time in history that La Mission Blanc has more Sauvignon Blanc (63%) than Semillon (27%) in its blend. As a result the wine is taut and energetic like a thoroughbred racehorse. It has clear flavours of lime blossom, citrus fruits and stony minerality with great structure and depth. Unusual for La Mission, the 2016 is nevertheless a very exciting expression of Sauvignon. Drink : 2020-2030.

Drink from 2023 till 2030

About

SKU 2016066-00750

Vintage 2016

Country France

Region Bordeaux

Château Château La Mission Haut-Brion

Appellation Pessac-Léognan

Color White

Volume 0,75l

Grape Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc

Producer Famille Dillon

Alcohol 14%

Website http://www.mission-haut-brion.com/

Food pairing

Fish
Hard cheese
Lobster & shellfish
Vegetables
White meat

The story

Château

Château La Mission Haut-Brion

In 1983, the Dillon family bought the neighbouring La Mission Haut-Brion estate, a former Lazarist monastery. Made by the same team as Haut-Brion, and comprising 25 hectares, La Mission tends to be softer and rounder, fruitier and more accessible than its big brother. The former Laville Haut-Brion vineyard now produces the white wine La Mission Haut-Brion. Our selection

Appellation

Pessac-Léognan

Created quite recently, in 1987, Pessac-Léognan is a sub appellation of the Graves, although the region as a whole claims to be the oldest wine region in Bordeaux dating back to the Roman times. It is thanks to the efforts of André Lurton, one of the best-known growers in the area, that the appellation was formed.

It is the home of all of the classified growths of the Graves from the celebrated Chateau Haut-Brion to famous names such as Chateau Haut Bailly or Chateau Couhins. There are 16 classified growths in Pessac-Léognan that make up about 20% of the total production.

Lying south of the city of Bordeaux and stretching out between the Garonne River to the east and the Landes forest to the west, the soils are made up of gravel, pebbles and shingle hillocks that produce both red and white wines. The grapes grown here are primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot for the reds and Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon for the whites.

Pessac-Léognan red wines are known for their elegance and balance between power and refinement. Famous for their pure fruit flavours, tasting notes often refer to the mineral notes of graphite or lead pencil found at the end of the palate. The wines tend to be firm and quite tannic in their youth but can develop beautifully over several decades to reveal a host of flavours including spice, cedar, graphite, licorice and tobacco.

The white wines of Pessac-Léognan are the greatest white wines produced in Bordeaux and can age impressively. They are dry wines with great finesse and power due to the blend of the Semillon and Sauvignon grapes, often fermented in and almost always aged in French oak barrels. Straw yellow in colour when young with aromas of box tree and lime, the wines develop to reveal notes of honey and muesli and powerful aromatic flavours of blackcurrant, bay leaf and citrus fruits. Our selection

Grape

Semillon

Semillon comes into its own in the great Sauternes and other sweet wines of Bordeaux. With a completely different taste profile, it is also famous for great dry white wines of impressive ageability in the Hunter Valley of Australia. It is the traditional blending partner with Sauvignon Blanc. It is fuller bodied, rounder and fatter than Sauvignon Blanc and has aromas of honey, lemon and beeswax with a soft, viscous texture.

More Semillon is grown in France than anywhere else. While it used to be planted in the New World, its popularity is declining here (except where sweet wines are made). It is its susceptibility to botrytis (the noble rot) that is probably Semillon’s key selling point, producing big yellow to golden berries when ripe that shrivel easily to make concentrated wines of great intensity. Our selection

Sauvignon Blanc

One of the fastest growing and most popular grape varieties, especially in the New World, Sauvignon Blanc is known for its very obvious aromas that range from passion fruit to boxwood. The variety is fairly easy to recognize with its grassy notes, the green hues in its colour and above all its clean, zesty acidity.   With age and with ripeness the crisp fruit (which has also been described as green pepper, nettle, gooseberry and lime blossom) can become rounder with notes of honeydew melon, pear and linden.

The grape is believed to have originated in the Loire, where it still finds its purest expression.   In the last 20 years, the variety has gone through a revolution since Denis Dubourdieu, the brilliant wine researcher and professor in Bordeaux identified the precursors of its aromas, which are sulphur compounds that become volatile when exposed to oxygen, called thiols. To preserve these thiols the grapes are usually macerated on the skins for a short period at cold temperatures before being fermented in stainless steel tanks.

The most obviously fruity, aromatic Sauvignon Blancs come from
New Zealand where the intense box tree and passion fruit notes are unmistakable.    In France, the wines are more restrained with mineral notes mixing with grassy, fruity tones. In Bordeaux the grapes are picked at full maturity, vinified in barrels and often blended with honey-scented Semillon to provide the necessary flesh before being aged in oak; these wines are capable of long age. Apart from New Zealand, the variety has had great success throughout the New World where it is prized for its intense aromas and juicy, fruity acidity. Our selection