Chateau La Tour Haut-Brion: guillotines, gravel and glorious wine

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  In the cluster of wines produced by the Dillon family there are the great Chateau Haut-Brion and Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion. But in another corner of their land lies a small vineyard called Chateau La Tour Haut-Brion. This is an ancient property, and today produces the frugal connoisseur’s choicest red wine. In 1500 the vineyard, situated on a poor gravelly soil, was owned by Louis Rostaing, one of the few proprietors of the time not in ecclesiastic garb. In the 18th century this small parcel was known as Chateau Saige-Formanoir, and belonged to the widow of Guillaume Saige. When the fury of the French Revolution swept through Bordeaux, the maiden voyage of the guillotine down the tracks was to sever the head of her son. Madame Saige must have been a tough old bird though, because she refused to flee. As a result, her lands and the vineyard were never confiscated. By mid-20th century, La Tour had been absorbed by La Mission Haut-Brion, and for a time the name was used to identify the second wine of the estate. However, with the acquisition of La Mission by the Dillon family, La Tour Haut-Brion is once again a wine made on its own. Chateau La Tour Haut-Brion, grand cru classé, is a lovely wine, and superior to La Mission’s second label, La Chapelle Haut-Brion. It is reasonably priced, but unfortunately because the vineyard is only a dozen acres in size, not widely availably. However, it is worth seeking out. While some of the Bordeaux red wines in the Graves district can be imperious in nature (note that I do not use the typical wine columnist’s verbiage) La Tour Haut-Brion comes right up to you and, without apology, shakes your hand. It is a round and rich smoky wine which will come of age more quickly in the bottle than the adjoining La Mission. What you get from La Tour Haut-Brion that may be lacking in some of the other small vineyards of the region is the extraordinary knowledge of wine making that comes with the property. Jean Delmas, and his father before him, and now with his son, has been masterminding the making of Chateau Haut-Brion, the premier grand cru, all his life. When the Dillon family acquired La Mission in 1983 as well, he took up its reins–to mix the metaphor–as well. The result is that the man widely considered to be the best director of wine in Bordeaux plans every last detail in the making of Chateau La Tour Haut-Brion. Glorious, glorious, glorious. But don’t tell too many people or the supply will vanish. —David Outerbridge has a B.A. from Harvard, and an M.A. from New York University. He has written seven books, and has been involved with a number of books from conception to final draft with different authors.
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