Château La Mission Haut-Brion: Wines

The harvest is naturally by hand, with sorting beginning in the vineyard where truck-mounted sorting tables are positioned. Fermentation is in the aforementioned stainless steel vats, which hold 180 hectolitres, with the temperature regulated to 30ºC, and the whole process under the control of régisseur Jean-Philippe Masclef together with the aforementioned Jean-Philippe Delmas (pictured below) of course. Once the fermentation is finished the wine is transferred into oak barrels, using 100% new wood, where the wine rests typically for 22 months, before an egg white fining and bottling, without filtration.

Dealing with the red wines first, the grand vin is Château La Mission Haut-Brion and of this there are typically 96,000 bottles per annum. The wine of Château La Tour Haut Brion has been, by many people and for many years, erroneously regarded as the second wine of Château La Mission Haut-Brion. In fact Château La Tour Haut Brion was a distinct property also once owned by Victor Cousteau that came to the Woltner family in 1933, after the death first of Victor in 1923 and then his widow, Marie. The Woltner brothers had been managing the property on behalf of Marie Cousteau for ten years after Victor’s death, and so it is perhaps not surprising that she bequeathed the property to them.

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