Château Larrivet Haut-Brion 2013

The 2013 vintage in Pessac-Léognan

Vintage benchmark: 78/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: Coulure, mildew, then rain during the harvest: a light vintage, ready to drink.

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

Ruby color. Complex and elegant nose, powerful: spice box, cedar, tobacco and black fruits. The attack is round, full, well-built; the mid-palate is already in place, smooth and straightforward; the finish reveals ripe tannins.

Blend of the 2013 vintage

Figures from the 2013 sheet

• 25 yrsVine age
• 180,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Manual & mechanical harvest at optimum maturity (from 30 September to 15 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).

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. Egg white fining before a light filtration and bottling at the Château.

Food pairings

He will brilliantly accompany a roast pigeon with wild spices or pressed duck.

Terroir

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