Château Haut-Bages Libéral 2025

The 2025 vintage in Pauillac

Vintage benchmark: 94/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A dry, bright summer, tempered by cool nights, gave pure, balanced wines, more classic than sun-drenched.

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.

Tasting

"The nose, on a slender, fragrant and radiant red fruit, has a chalky freshness and seems to stand on tiptoe. The palate surges forward, welcoming and sunny, on a crisp and lively red fruit, focused, chiselled, vibrant and persistent." - le Figaro

The vintage

Born from atypical climatic conditions, the 2025 vintage reveals itself with remarkable finesse. Faced with a scorching summer, the beneficial proximity of the estuary acted as a decisive thermal regulator. By protecting the vineyard from excessive heat, it allowed the grapes to achieve excellent concentration while preserving outstanding mineral freshness through optimal phenolic ripeness. Through the definition of its tannic structure and its perfect balance, 2025 clearly stands among the greatest vintages.

Harvest dates: from September 8th to 18th, 2025.

Blend of the 2025 vintage

Figures from the 2025 sheet

• 13.2 % vol.Alcohol
• 32 hl/haYield

Winemaking

Intra-Plot vinification. 23 days of maceration to 18°C at 24°C, with the addition of neutral gas to stimulate gentle movements, for a soft and regular extraction. Vertical pressing to bring a special care to the presses.

Ageing

12-16 month including: 35% in new oak, 35% in one-wine barrels, 30% in ovoid concrete tanks.

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.