Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion
I have a particularly fond memory of Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion. This memory does not stem from any particular bottle, although there are certainly some good wines being made here in modern times. Instead it comes from a visit I made here a few years ago, proof, to my mind at least, that the joy of wine comes not just from having a high-scoring liquid in the glass in front of you, but comes from visiting, tasting, feeling the soil, perhaps meeting the winemaker, and understanding. Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion was the first château I visited the first time I attended the Bordeaux primeurs.
It was not my first visit to Bordeaux, far from it in fact, and I had called in on many grander châteaux, even the likes of Château Margaux, before I descended upon Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion. But this was the first time I was to have a chance to taste the new vintage at this early stage, and naturally I was excited. As I ascended the staircase towards the first-floor tasting room at Larrivet-Haut-Brion I can still recall hearing the hubbub of tasters within the room ahead. Turning a corner a roomful of swirling and spitting was revealed to me, and shortly thereafter the tasting, not just of Larrivet-Haut-Brion, but of almost all the top wines of Pessac-Léognan, began. I haven’t missed a primeurs week since.
