The 1995 Château Haut-Brion is a superb wine that showcases the excellence of the vintage, with its deep ruby/purple color and impressive complexity. The wine offers a tight but promising nose of burning wood embers, vanilla, spice, earth, and a blend of sweet cherry, black currant, and plum-like fruit. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied with ripe, sweet tannins and a long finish that lingers for 40-45 seconds. While it was initially closed and backward, the wine is now beginning to emerge, displaying a muscular and structured profile. The result of impeccable vineyard management under Jean Delmas, this wine is expected to age gracefully and develop further complexity through 2035. The 1995 vintage, characterized by a dry, hot growing season and perfect ripeness at harvest, offers a wine that combines structure with elegance.

The Wine Advocate | RP 96
Published: Jan 1, 2003
Drink: 2003-2035

It is fun to go back and forth between the 1995 and 1996, two superb vintages for Haut-Brion. The 1995 seems to have sweeter tannin and a bit more fat and seamlessness when compared to the more structured and muscular 1996. Certainly 1995 was a vintage that the brilliant administrator Jean Delmas handled flawlessly. The result is a deep ruby/purple-colored wine with a tight but promising nose of burning wood embers intermixed with vanilla, spice box, earth, mineral, sweet cherry, black currant, plum-like fruit, medium to full body, a high level of ripe but sweet tannin, and a finish that goes on for a good 40-45 seconds. This wine is just beginning to emerge from a very closed state where it was unyielding and backward. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2035. Last tasted, 11/02.

Jancisrobinson.com | JR 18.5
Published: Mar 7, 2013
Drink: 2007-2030

Just lovely wine, and the only one that was not dominated by a single variety, being a Cabernet/Merlot blend. Excellent lustrous, nuanced ruby.. Clearly a very fine mature wine. Strong liquorice notes (Haut-Brion 'warm bricks' earthiness?) For a second I wondered if it was a 1998 Hermitage.  Very complex. Spread across the palate. My guess is that no one dared guess it was a first growth but we were looking for appreciation in the comments box...

Haut-brion.com

Elegant and complex, the red wine of Château Haut-Brion is very mineral and of a rare complexity, it is distinguished by an astonishing length, this aromatic persistence being the privilege of very great origins.

Tasting note

The characteristic of this wine is its harmony between the very soft and very fine structure and the complex aroma given by the earth of the “Graves”.
There is a lot of charm in this bottle which could be consumed either in the next few years or be kept in the cellar as the wine will age remarkably.

The weather
1995 was a precocious year. The winter was mild and the spring hot and dry. The bud burst and the flowering were precocious and homogeneous. June, July and August were characterized by hot temperatures and no rain. Some of the vines with superficial roots as for young vines suffered from dryness. The harvest was perfectly ripe and sounds although September was cooler than usual and rainy in the middle of the month.