- Château Haut-Brion 2023 has been released at £3,780 per 12×75.
- Jane Anson scored the wine a potentially perfect 98-100 points.
- This release may provide reasonable value for those who can secure an allocation.
As part of this year’s Bordeaux En Primeur campaign, Château Haut-Brion 2023 has been released at €312 per bottle ex-négociant, down 39.5% on the 2022 release (€516 per bottle).
It is being offered by the international trade for £3,780 per 12×75, a 38.8% decrease on the 2022’s opening price (£6,180 a case).
At this price, today’s release offers up reasonable value. There are options in back-vintages for buyers interested in other opportunities.
Critical response
‘There is real pedigree to this First Growth’ said Neal Martin (Vinous), who awarded the 2023 a barrel score of 96-98 points. He praised the wine’s ‘superb energy’ and ‘crescendo of flavours toward a complex and persistent finish’.
Jane Anson was effusive in her praise, describing this ‘exceptional’ vintage as offering ‘juice and elegant balance alongside classically structured layers, generous but restrained, a sense of architecture and the building blocks of a truly great Left Bank wine’. She awarded the wine a potentially perfect 98-100 points – a score she gave to only four wines this year.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW (The Wine Independent) also awarded 98-100 points, praising its ‘jaw-dropping energy, accented by mineral and exotic spice notes and supported with a firm backbone’.
Antonio Galloni (Vinous) gave a score of 95-97 points, calling the wine ‘potent, dazzling and sumptuous’.
William Kelley (The Wine Advocate), awarding 95-97 points, said the wine ‘offers up a deep but youthfully reserved bouquet of dark wild berries, licorice, smoke and pencil lead mingled with notions of cigar wrapper, nicely integrated new oak and spices’.
We will be adding all scores to the critics grid as they are released here. Sign up for release alerts to keep up to date.
Pricing Analysis
According to the Liv-ex Fair Value methodology, Market Prices of Château Haut-Brion are not strongly correlated with critic scores, highlighting the power of the brand.
Today’s release is below the price at which many other vintages are currently available on the market. Given its impressive critical response, it may offer reasonable value to those able to secure an allocation.
For fans of Neal Martin, the 99-point 2019 vintage, his highest-scoring of the past decade, may be of interest. It last traded at £3,920 per 12×75, up 9.3% on its original opening price (£3,588). It is available at a Market Price of £3,960 – a 4.7% premium to today’s release.
The 97-point 2015, available at an 11.1% premium to today’s release, benefits from extra time in bottle and may also be a compelling alternative.
Use our ready-made list to easily spot opportunities in back-vintages of Château Haut-Brion and other First Growths.
Other releases
Château Haut-Brion Blanc 2023 has been released today at €540 per bottle ex-négociant. Neal Martin gave the wine a score of 95-97 points, while Jane Anson awarded 98 points.
Le Clarence de Haut-Brion, the second red wine of Château Haut-Brion, has also been released at €96 per bottle ex-négociant.
Our Bordeaux En Primeur 2023 page contains everything you need to know about this year’s campaign. You can also sign up for our daily En Primeur email alerts using the form below.
Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real time activity of Liv-ex’s 620+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £100m of bids and offers across 20,000 wines.
