Chateau Laville Haut-Brion

Chateau Laville Haut-Brion, along with La Tour Haut-Brion, became part of the La Mission Haut-Brion family now, under the empire of the American Dillon family. It is now commercialized as the white wine of La Mission Haut-Brion, with the last vintage under the original name being 2008.

The birth of the wine came through the fusion of two separate vineyards, Clos Laville and La Mission Haut-Brion blanc. Although it is now under the same ownership as La Mission Haut-Brion and Haut-Brion, the history of this estate actually began in the early 17^th century when it was owned by Marie de Laville, the wealthy widow of a Bordeaux magistrate, Sir de Queyrac.

The wine was known as Terrefort then, and after that it was passed to her brother Bertrand and then to his son Arnaud, followed by his daughter Marguerite. It came to her niece Helaine and in 1717 it was sold to Bernard Gaussens, renaming it officially to Clos Laville.

It was then bought and sold several times, eventually coming to Pierre-David Bouscasse in 1825. All the wine produced up till then was red. The Bouscasse family continued to hold on the estate till 1912, when it was acquired by a barrel merchant named Leopold Bibonne, during which the first white grape varieties were believed to be planted.

In 1931 a merchant called Frederic-Otto Woltner acquired Clos Laville. Woltner also owned La Mission and La Tour Haut-Brion, effectively uniting the vineyards for the first time. The white wine was immediately integrated into La Mission blanc, resulting in the first vintage of Chateau Laville Terroir du Haut-Brion, which was renamed to Chateau Laville Haut-Brion in 1934.

In 1983 the Woltner family sold it to Clarence Dillon, who also acquired La Mission Haut-Brion, beginning the current chapter of the property.

The vineyard was directly contiguous with La Mission Haut-Brion, a 3.5 ha plot of gravelly clay soils on chalk sand. The vines are averaging 50 years, with 70% Semillon, 27% Sauvignon Blanc, 3% Muscadelle.

Manually harvested, the grapes are sorted on the table before fermented, which started in stainless steel and completed in 50% new oak barrels, with the lees rested for about 15 months. The wine is fined with egg white before bottling. The grand vin is typically produced at only 500-700 cases per year but no second wine is produced.

I have recently tasted the 1999 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Good quality Pessac-Leognan white of medium gold color, the wine has an intense nose of reasonable complexity, showing developing aromas of honeysuckle, apricot and peach, cream, honey, lanolin and wax, and some sherry aromas, which was gone after airing for a while. The palate is of medium acidity, in balance, with good, medium-bodied structure and also showing intense flavors of honeysuckle, ripe pear, smoke, butter, honey. The finish is exceptionally long, but overall I think it is a bit too hollow on the nose and palate, a bit disappointing given its prestige status. It is ready to drink now though can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.