Château Haut-Bages Libéral 2023

The 2023 vintage in Pauillac

Vintage benchmark: 91/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: July mildew followed by a hot September demanded strict selection: fleshy, aromatic wines, more approachable than 2022.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pauillac. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

The vintage

In 2023, the weather in the Médoc was favorable, promoting regular and uninterrupted vegetative growth. Spring weather conditions and moderate rainfall were beneficial, ensuring good production potential until harvest. Despite a hot and dry summer, ripeness levels reached interesting levels thanks to a particularly warm end of August. September rains provided relief to the Cabernet Sauvignon towards the end of the harvest, giving them freshness again.

Harvest dates: begins on September 12, 2023, and ends on September 30, 2023.

Blend of the 2023 vintage

Figures from the 2023 sheet

• 13.5 % vol.Alcohol
• 53 hl/haYield

Winemaking

Parcel-based vinification. 24 days of maceration at 20-24°C, with the addition of a neutral gas that stimulates movements, for gentle and regular extraction. No pumping over. Vertical pressing to ensure special care during pressing.

Ageing

16 months aging, including: 40% in new barrels, 40% in barrels previously used for one wine, 20% in egg-shaped concrete tanks and amphorae.

Terroir

The vineyard covers 30 hectares, half of which are located around the property, adjoining Château Latour. The other part of the vineyard is on the Bages plateau, in the south of Pauillac. The estate's plots are located in 2 areas, one made up of deep gravels and the other of clay-limestone and chalky limestone. This type of soil gives the wine its power and its mineral character. A large part of its fine deep-gravel land overlooks the Gironde estuary. These gravels were carried down by the river from the Pyrenees during the Quaternary era. They rest on a limestone bedrock.