1988 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Leognan, Bottle (750ml)

John Gilman | 97 Points

"I opened my last remaining bottle of the 1988 Château La Mission Haut-Brion in my cellar all the way back in 2015, when I was writing my historical feature on this estate. The wine was lovely then, but another decade in the cellar has worked its magic on the wine and it is a significantly better drink today! The bouquet here is every bit as brilliant as in the Haut-Brion paired up beside it, offering up a stunning aromatic constellation of sweet blackberries, cassis, tobacco leaf, dark, gravelly soil tones, coffee bean, violets, a touch of La Mission’s medicinal overtones and a deft framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and extremely elegant in profile for La Mission, with a stunning core of fruit, great soil undertow and grip, still some buried tannin to resolve and impeccable balance on the very long and complex finish. To my palate, the 1988 La Mission is every bit as dazzling as the 1982 and 1989 wines from this estate."

La Mission Haut-Brion is Pessac-Léognan's quintessential insider's wine, a Cru Classé that sits right beside its First Growth neighbor Haut-Brion and, in more than a few vintages, rivals it outright.

1988 is the kind of underrated vintage drinkers know to grab while everyone else is chasing 1989 and 1990, and nearly four decades on, this bottle has arrived exactly where it needed to be.

The nose is full of sweet blackberries, cassis, tobacco leaf, dark gravelly soil tones, coffee bean, violets, and a touch of La Mission's signature medicinal edge, all framed by cedary oak. It's pure Graves through and through.

On the palate it's remarkably youthful still, pure silk layered over the rustic backbone that defines great Graves, with an impeccable balance of power and elegance.

By every account this is a wine drinking at its absolute peak, but give it real time in the glass and let it unfold.