2020 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan

Very plush and tannic with full body and lots of structure and intensity. Top second wine. Very solid and quite muscular with fine tannins and texture.

Concentrated, with impact and punch. It has presence and barely takes a beat through the mid palate, as there is such a wall of blackberry and bilberry fruits. A brambly hedgerow feel, hard to argue with - but be aware that there is heat also; and this is a hedonistic wine. Harvest from 7th to 29th September.

The 2020 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion has a succulent bouquet of dark cherries, boysenberry and crushed violet scents, quite heady and bold for a second wine (even the second wine of a First Growth!). The palate is medium-bodied with succulent, pliant tannins that frame the pure black cherry, wild strawberry and black currant fruit. Veins of licorice appear toward the finish. There is a lot of density in this Le Clarence and a little more structure than usual, and it suits it well.

Mid purplish crimson. Rather simple, or at least uncommunicative, on the nose at present, though there is a beguiling combination of ripe fruit and stoniness (warm bricks?) on the palate which has impressive concentration. Comparing it with other celebrated Pessac-Léognans of the same vintage, it is clear that this has some magic dust – as it should considering how much more expensive it is. Lots of leathery tannin underneath but it is the integrity of the fruit that is so impressive.