Had a chance to try these side by side recently and thought it was a really interesting comparison of top tier Bordeaux vs Napa from the same vintage. 1995 is a vintage that is good (but not great) in both Bordeaux and Napa, and so arguably a more “fair” comparison than a vintage where one of the regions clearly dominates the other (e.g., 2013).
The nose of the Haut Brion was very complete. Earthy, smoky, slightly gravelly notes layered in with the fruit. The palate was perfectly balanced, structure and tension but not over the top. Nothing really out of place, just incredible precision of flavors coupled with insanely balanced tension, tannin, and acid. It evolves very nicely in glass gaining depth and complexity, but still somehow retaining its vivacity throughout the 3 hrs it was consumed. The best way I can describe this experience was balance, precision, purity. If you’re not carefully dissecting the structure, flavors, and experience it’s easy to overlook this as “just” a good Bordeaux. But I think that’s part of the charm. Drinking it, there’s nothing out of place, everything is “perfect”. You can make this wine an intellectual experience, or just one of pure joy. About as good as Bordeaux gets for me in my limited experience.
Unsurprisingly, the Spottswoode was much more about the fruit. Really clean, very pure expression of red fruits. Strawberry, lighter red cherry, and just a whisper of darker cassis. To be honest, if you blinded me on this I could totally see myself calling this a 10 year old new world pinot. Even with its 30+ years of age, it is drinking remarkably youthful. There are definitely some tertiary notes coming through, in terms of earthiness or soil tones, but not as much of that classic Bordeaux cigar box and leather. The texture here was extremely nice, a bit dense and felt like it lingered on the palate for ages. I really enjoyed also the balance of fruit and acid here. My understanding is that Spottswoode isn’t your “typical” fruit bomb Napa, and so the display of elegance here was much appreciated.
The Haut Brion was about 2x the price of the Spottswoode, and if I had to buy one of these again, I’d probably go for the Haut Brion. I just think it was the more complete wine experience and felt more interesting. Overall both are in a great place for enjoyment now, and exhibit their respective styles well.
by Weird-Collection3311
3 Comments
Had the 1995 Château Haut-Brion recently and agree with your assessment, although probably got slightly less earth than you did.
Appreciate the detailed notes but, considering the price difference and style of Spottswoode wine, not sure that’s a great/fair comparison. You may want to compare the Brion up against something like Dominus, OVID or a more Bordeaux style from Napa.
Like this kind of comparison, same vintage, different parrs of the world makes it much more interesting.
When I was doing my WSET, Barolo was one that really stuck with me because of how the tannins grip the mouth. Bordeaux always felt more about balance and structure, whereas Napa leans more into fruit.
Your notes kind of line up with that, Haut Brion sounding more complete and layered, Spottswoode more fruit-forward and youthful.
Out of curiosity, which one did you find yourself going back to more in the glass?