1973 Pessac-Léognan, Château La Mission Haut-Brion
About Producer
The starting point for La Mission Haut-Brion was in 1540 when Arnaud de Lestonnac, a Bordeaux wine merchant, purchased a plot next to Haut-Brion. Lestonnac was married to Marie, the sister of Jean de Pontac, owner of Haut-Brion. It's his granddaugher Olive who bequeathed the property to religious orders, and in 1682, it was transferred to the Lazarists of Bordeaux. Known as the Priests of the Mission (Congrégation de la Mission), they developed the vineyard for the following 110 years until the French Revolution. The modern era of La Mission Haut-Brion started in 1919 with the Woltner family, owners until 1983 when they sold it to the Dillon family, from Château Haut-Brion. Under the new ownership, an extensive modernisation and restoration programme, to the château, chapel and cellars, was rolled out. The property stands opposite Château Haut-Brion, and the vineyard covers a total area of 29ha, with 25ha planted with red grape varieties and 4ha devoted to white grape varieties.
Varietals
Blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot.
About Appellation
Pessac-Léognan is the northern portion of the larger Graves region that was created as a separate AOC in 1987. The vineyards cover 1,491ha in red grape varieties, mostly cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and 275ha in white varietals, predominantly sauvignon blanc and sémillon. Though vines were first planted in Roman times, viticulture saw a boom in the Middle Ages and reached its peak after the marriage of Aliénor d'Aquitaine to King Henry II of England in 1152. Subsequently, red wines from this region reached fame in the British Isles as 'claret', a term that later became the colloquial way to designate Bordeaux red wines. Lying immediately south of the city of Bordeaux, it's home to First Growth Haut-Brion, the only estate from the region included in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification, and to one of the oldest estates in Bordeaux, Pape Clément, where the first harvest took place in 1252.
Tasting Notes
1973 is a difficult vintage in Bordeaux with miserable weather throughout the summer, and heavy downpours in August and September. Lacking richness and structure, most of the wines from that bumper crop were thin, diluted and destined for early drinking upon release. Against that backdrop, this bottle should have been drunk long ago as it’s now well past its drinkability window. Although a few good wines were to be found in Pomerol and Graves (today Pessac-Léognac appellation) in 1973, I initially thought that this La Mission Haut-Brion would be undrinkable at this stage of its life. So, I was utterly thrilled to find a very agreeable wine with its signature class in brilliant display at 50 years old. It’s light and pure with occasional glimpses of its faded glory. The lovely nose of subdued fruit and balsamic aromas progressively gives way to a caressing mouthfeel brimming with subtle flavours of leather, tobacco, forest floor and tertiary notes, and there is a delightful bead of tamed acidity that cruises nicely along the palate leading onto an unexpected delicate aftertaste. I can’t help thinking of these lines from this Paul Simon’s song, ‘And so you see I have come to doubt, All that once held as true, I stand alone without beliefs, The only truth I know is you’. Sometimes, miracles can happen in the teeth of the worst weather conditions. (10/2023)