Larrivet de Haut Brion 2007: Value Pessac

I wasn't sure what wine reviews meant by "grip" until I tasted this, the Larrivet de Haut Brion 2007.

Suddenly, I got it. This very quaffable red is classic Pessac.

I noticed a great dark fruit nose, I think it was cherry and plum, smooth tannins and a strong, long finish.

 My bottle came from the Chateau, which I was able to visit in mid-October this year with a few friends.

A month after the harvest

The 2007 is not seen by others as the best recent year but I thought it's a really decent Pessac wine, and for £15-25 a bottle you'd struggle to match it for power and elegance.

A lot of five year old wines lack personality, but this is a lovely, simple, peppery claret, smooth, supple and with a more complex finish than you think it will have on first tasting.

It's between £15-20a bottle according to wine-searcher.com

It needs an hour or so in the decanter, but it's well worth a try for something slightly off the beaten track.

Some photos of the recent chateau visit are below.

More on the Chateau is here.

Bizarrely, this middle barrel was aged in seawater. It didn't work

The first tasting of the day. Very hard to taste at 10am...

The vats

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