The 2020 Château La Mission Haut-Brion is a stunning example of balance and power, showcasing the estate's remarkable ability to produce wines of both concentration and finesse. With a blend of 46.2% Merlot, 43.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 8.2% Cabernet Franc, this wine exhibits an impressive depth of dark fruit—blackberries, blackcurrants, and plums—complemented by aromas of burning embers, pencil shavings, and subtle floral notes. Full-bodied and rich, the wine's muscular tannins are finely integrated, offering an elegant structure that will only deepen with time. Despite its current youthful restraint, this wine shows immense potential, with its complexity and concentrated profile making it an exceptional vintage for long-term aging. It is expected to reach its peak between 2035 and 2065, rewarding those who choose to cellar it with a refined, layered experience.

The Wine Advocate | RP 100
Published: Apr 06, 2023
Drink: 2035-2065

The 2020 La Mission Haut-Brion is a brilliant effort that exhibits a level of balance and integration that are impressive in such a powerful young Bordeaux. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with burning embers, pencil shavings, violets and smoked black tea, it's full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a layered, elegantly muscular profile, its brooding core of fruit framed by a generous endowment of powdery tannin that tempers the ripeness of the vintage. Checking in at 14.7% alcohol, it's nonetheless more classically styled than the more flamboyant 2019 vintage or even the slowly maturing 2010 which I re-tasted alongside for context.

Jamessuckling.com | JS 99
Published: Mar 29, 2023

Perfectly ripe black and blue berries on the nose with blackcurrants, too. Crushed fruit. Complex and perfect. Full and intense. You feel the intensity of the tannins, yet it is not overpowering. They are in a sophisticated and elegant state. Muscular and formed finish. Gorgeous in every sense of the word. Strength with finesse. Drink after 2030.

Decanter | D 95
Published: Jan 2, 2023
Drink: 2025-2045

Dark chocolate, bramble fruits, some perfumed notes, exotic spices, liquorice, cedar and clove, but floral too. Supple and charming on the palate, not so lively and openly expressive at this point, a bit more knitted down, quiet and calm but a lovely texture. Tannis are fine but just chalky giving the grip and width while the dark fruit has both a red and black tang to it, just restricted a little by the oaky edges, subtle as they are in terms of flavour, it just narrows the expression a little. You can feel the concentration in the lingering flavour on the cheeks and again a touch of heat and wood spice on the finish. Good acidity with a lightness of touch despite the depth of flavour. Well worked with a long finish.
Closure: Cork
Alcohol: 14.70%
Body: Full
Oak: Oaked
Grapes: 8.2% Cabernet Franc 43.2% Cabernet Sauvignon 46.2% Merlot

Jancisrobinson.com | JR 18
Published: Feb 15, 2024
Drink: 2035-2050

Tasted blind. Inky crimson. Pure black fruit with a top note of cedary pencil. Pure, dark and elegant. On the palate, this is really refined, flowing across the palate even with so much tannin density. Elegant and embryonic with a lovely dark minerally character.

Mission-haut-brion.com

Complex, full-bodied and rich… Château La Mission Haut-Brion red invites the most flattering descriptions. The blend adapts according to the vintage, but Château La Mission Haut-Brion red wine always retains its unparalleled charisma.

2020 tasting notes
A beautiful dark purple hue.
The first nose is intense and fascinating, full of red fruit aromas, with ripe and fresh notes simultaneously. Swirling the wine confirms the fruity, captivating powerfulness,enhanced by a superb woody, spicy hint.
The first taste is round, fleshy and thick. The wine develops on a tightly-knit, juicy sensation on the palate, almost sweet, with full-body.
It stretches out in length with an elegant presence of tannin, rich in taste and full of pleasure on the finish. This is a superb Château La Mission Haut-Brion,
its blend well-balanced and representative of the grape varieties planted in its vineyard.