Compared to the 1990, this is clearly a much more 'modern' wine with deep, youthful colour, dark cassis, kirsch and black olive notes on the palate. Powerfully built with firm tannins suggesting this still has a long way to go. Earthy, meaty characters, and a dryness to the tannins confirming the lack of rainfall during the growing season. Likely to flesh out and add richness over the next 15+ years. After a mild winter, spring was very hot and warm, before the onset of extremely dry conditions lasting into September. A very fine, long-living La Mission.

This is tight and beautiful, with a firm tannin structure and a beautiful silky texture. Full and concentrated, with a destiny. In the glass it keeps evolving, notes of iodine, spices, cedar, and earth tempt the senses. This still needs some time to come together. Don't touch it until 2015.

The 2000 La Mission Haut-Brion is consistent with my most recent note, although I must admit that I felt there was a touch more brett on the nose than the previous example. Black cherries and iodine to the fore, with some undergrowth and Provencal herbs, it is very complex. The palate is medium-bodied, well balanced and still peppery with a saline finish. Excellent, but I'm going to detract a point for that brett.

One of the wines of the vintage, the 2000 has barely budged in its evolution since it was bottled and released in 2002. After ten years in bottle, it still reveals a dense opaque purple color along with a potentially sensational bouquet of blueberries, black currants, graphite, asphalt and background oak. Extremely powerful, full-bodied and superbly concentrated with good acidity and high but round tannins, this massive La Mission-Haut-Brion should take its place among this estate's most hallowed vintages when it hits full maturity in another one to two decades. I was surprised by just how youthful this wine tasted at age 12. If tasted blind, I would have guessed it to be around 4 to 5 years old. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2050.