Château Larrivet Haut-Brion 2009

The 2009 vintage in Pessac-Léognan

Vintage benchmark: 98/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A sun-drenched season from start to finish gave opulent, fleshy wines, immediately appealing yet built for the cellar.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pessac-Léognan. 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

A dark, dense, ruby colour with purplish blue glints. At first the wine is mineral and floral (hints of violets). Aromas of spice-box then come through together with notes of cedar-wood, truffles and smoke. The structure on the palate is opulent, voluptuous, without any aggressiveness, and rich in silky tannins. The finish is long with very ripe fruit and spices coming to the fore.

Blend of the 2009 vintage

Figures from the 2009 sheet

• 25 yrsVine age
• 180,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Manual & mechanical harvest at optimum maturity (from 24 September to 14 October), transport of grapes in baskets, hand sorting before destemming and Pellenc optical sorting before crushing. The winery is equipped with temperature-controlled stainless steel vats permitting vinification plot by plot: traditional vinification at high temperature (28-32°C) with 3-4 pumping over per day, long maceration (25-30 days). Egg white fining before a light filtration and bottling at the Château.

Ageing

Air-conditioned cellar, traditional racking. Aged 14 to 18 months, one third in new oak barrels, one third in barrels previously used for one wine, and one third in barrels previously used for two wines.

Food pairings

Flavoursome cuts of meat, such as Bazas beef rib steak in a bordelaise sauce or slow-simmered pigeon stew.

Terroir

Léognan. Deep gravelly and sandy soil overlying a clay substratum.