The 2021 Haut-Bages Libéral is a powerful, dense wine. Black cherry, mocha, plum, licorice and incense are all amplified in a brooding, dense Pauillac endowed with notable textural richness and tons of sheer power. Aeration releases the wine's bracing acidity and aromatics, yet the 2021 remains quite rich. Yields were just 31.5 hectoliters-per-hectare, about 30% lower than normal. Haut-Bages Libéral is a rare 2021 that needs time to shed some of its considerable baby fat. It's a seriously impressive wine from Claire Lurton. The 2021 was aged 40% in new oak, 40% in once-filled barrels and 20% in a combination of amphora and concrete vat. –Antonio Galloni
Product Description:
A few explanations about this triple-barrel name: Haut Bages because the property is situated on the hills of Bages, a small hamlet between Pauillac and Saint Julien. Libéral is the name of the family who built up this wining property during the 18th century. Wine brokers from one generation to another, over the years they grouped good plots of deep gravel, the largest of which dominates the Gironde estuary.
This Chateau is almost up at the top! Just one small country lane separates the property and the highest point of the appellation. A lane which runs between Haut-Bages-Libéral and Pauillac's famous Chateau Latour.
When the Chateau came on the market in 1982, the great names of the Medoc region fought to buy it. The owners of Chasse Spleen were to become the proud owners. Their first vintage was a success, in no way hindered by the fact that 1982 was an exceptional year for Medoc wines. Since then, the quality of the work carried out by the wining team has not slackened and the wine they produce is becoming more and more popular with journalists and professionals of the wine world.
