Château Haut-Bages Libéral Pauillac 2023
£28.75
The wine
Haut-Bages Libéral is a fifth growth of the 1855 classification, sitting at the top of the Bages plateau between Pauillac and Saint-Julien. The name comes from that position and from the Libéral family, wine brokers who assembled the vineyards in the eighteenth century beside what are now Château Latour and Pichon Baron.
Thirty hectares, and unusually for Pauillac partly on a limestone mound near the estuary rather than pure gravel, which is generally credited with the freshness and finesse the wines show against the power of the commune. Claire Villars-Lurton has run the estate since 2000 and moved it to organic farming, certified in 2019, and to biodynamics, certified by Demeter in 2022. Vinification is plot by plot across stainless steel and concrete, with part of the ageing in amphora and concrete ovals alongside French oak.
The producer
Château Haut-Bages Libéral
View all Château Haut-Bages Libéral winesChâteau Haut-Bages Libéral is a fifth growth of the 1855 classification, thirty hectares on the Bages plateau in Pauillac, directly alongside Château Latour and Pichon Baron. The Libéral family, wine brokers who sold much of their production into Belgium and the Netherlands, assembled the vineyards in the eighteenth century and gave the estate the second half of its name. The first half describes where it sits, high on the plateau between Pauillac and Saint-Julien.
The estate slipped into neglect after the classification and was replanted from 1960 by the Cruse family, then passed to the Villars family in 1983. It has been run since 2000 by Claire Villars-Lurton, who with her husband Gonzague Lurton also holds Château Ferrière and Château La Gurgue in Margaux and Château Durfort-Vivens.
What makes the vineyard unusual for Pauillac is its geology. Part of it lies on a rare limestone mound near the Gironde rather than the deep gravel that defines the commune, and that limestone is generally credited with the freshness and finesse the wines show against the power of their neighbours. The plantings are led by Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot in support.
Villars-Lurton began converting the vineyard in 2007 and has taken it further than most classified growths: certified organic in 2019 and certified biodynamic by Demeter in 2022, with agroforestry and agroecology running alongside. Vinification is plot by plot in stainless steel and concrete, and part of the ageing now happens in amphora and concrete ovals as well as French oak.
