CHATEAU HAUT BRION

Regarded as one of the world's greatest wines for around 600 years, Haut-Brion was the only First Growth outside of the Médoc in the 1855 Classification. Grapes are thought to have been grown here since Roman times, and it can boast the first-ever professional wine review, by Samuel Pepys in 1663. Lauded by Thomas Jefferson in 1787, it was the earliest recorded First Growth to be imported to the United States. The estate was eventually purchased by another American, New York Financier Clarence Dillon, in 1935, and it remains in Dillon family hands to this day.

The elevated vineyard consists of deep gravels with a high clay and mineral content, planted in 45% Merlot, 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. They also produce one of the greatest and most expensive dry white wines in the world from 63% Semillion and 37% Sauvignon Blanc.

The elegant and refined Haut-Brion is virtually in a class of its own, with a programme of deliberately lowered yields, stringent sorting and increased allocation to the second wine upping the ante significantly.