CRITIC REVIEWS
Robert M. Parker, Jr.
It is fun to go back and forth between the 1995 and 1996, two superb vintages for Haut-Brion. The 1995 seems to have sweeter tannin and a bit more fat and seamlessness when compared to the more structured and muscular 1996. Certainly 1995 was a vintage that the brilliant administrator Jean Delmas handled flawlessly. The result is a deep ruby/purple-colored wine with a tight but promising nose of burning wood embers intermixed with vanilla, spice box, earth, mineral, sweet cherry, black currant, plum-like fruit, medium to full body, a high level of ripe but sweet tannin, and a finish that goes on for a good 40-45 seconds. This wine is just beginning to emerge from a very closed state where it was unyielding and backward. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2035. Last tasted, 11/02.
Neal Martin
Tasted at Christies Boardroom dinner from an ex-chateau bottle. The 1995 Haut Brion has a gorgeous bouquet: less opulent than the bottle encountered in March 2011, here offering a more sedate, but somehow "languid" bouquet of tertiary black fruit, cigar box and autumn leaves that are all beautifully defined. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, open for business with fine tension shimmering throughout. It does not quite possess the breeding or clinical focus of the 1996, but it is a generous Haut-Brion, rounded in texture with Morels and tobacco lining the finish. I would broach bottles of the 1995 before reaching for the 1996. Drink now-2025. Tasted November 2013.