Chateau Haut-Brion 1989

The oldest First Growth

Haut-Brion sits in Pessac, about 5 kilometers from the center of Bordeaux, on gravel slopes that rise to about 27 meters. In places the gravel runs as deep as 18 meters, over clay and sand. Thomas Jefferson, visiting on May 25, 1787, wrote that the soil 'is made up of sand, in which there is near as much round gravel or small stone and a very little loam like the soils of the Medoc.' A century earlier, in 1677, the philosopher John Locke had marveled that ground of 'pure white sand, mixed with a little gravel' could grow anything at all.

The estate's documented history begins in the 1520s. One historian of the property dates the earliest records of wine from its vineyards to 1521, when the land was known as Aubrion. On April 23, 1525, Jeanne de Bellon, daughter of the mayor of Libourne, married Jean de Pontac, and her dowry included part of the Haut-Brion land. In 1649 Arnaud III de Pontac became the owner and began selling the wine in London under the estate's own name, a new idea at the time.

The 1660 cellar book of King Charles II records 169 bottles of the 'wine of Hobriono' served at court in 1660 and 1661. On April 10, 1663, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary that at the Royal Oak Tavern he drank 'a sort of French wine called Ho Bryen that hath a good and most particular taste I never met with,' which a historian of the claret trade calls the first tasting note of Haut-Brion. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, the Pontac family opened a London tavern, the Sign of Pontac's Head, to sell the wine.

In the 1855 classification Haut-Brion was ranked a First Growth, the only estate outside the Medoc among the original First Growths. Its 19th-century owners, the Larrieu family, held it until 1923. A letter from 1850 describes the bottles already carrying 'labels and capsules bearing your name,' with the name also branded on the cork.

The Dillons and the Delmas family

The New York banker Clarence Dillon bought Haut-Brion on May 13, 1935, for 2,300,000 francs, in the middle of the Depression. Unverified stories surround the purchase: Dillon is said to have also considered Cheval Blanc, Ausone or a share of Margaux, but chose Haut-Brion for its closeness to Bordeaux on a cold, rainy day. One account claims he never got out of the car. He died in 1979 at 96.

The estate's daily direction passed through three generations of one family. Georges Delmas, formerly of Cos d'Estournel, became director of Haut-Brion in the 1920s; sources give 1921 and 1924. His son Jean-Bernard Delmas, born at the estate, succeeded him in 1961 and was in charge when the 1989 was made. Under him Haut-Brion became one of the first great Bordeaux estates to ferment in stainless steel vats, and it began a clonal selection program in the 1970s (sources give 1972 and 1974). Jean-Bernard's son, Jean-Philippe Delmas, took over in 2003.

Ownership stayed in the Dillon family. In 1975 Clarence Dillon's granddaughter Joan Dillon, then Princess Charles of Luxembourg and later the Duchesse de Mouchy, took over management of the company. In 1983 the family bought Haut-Brion's longtime rival across the road, La Mission Haut-Brion. Her son, Prince Robert of Luxembourg, became head of Domaine Clarence Dillon in 2008.

1989: the hottest summer in decades

The 1989 season began after a very mild winter and a wet spring. By May the vines were about three weeks ahead of schedule, and flowering was early and even. The summer was hot, sunny and dry; one longtime Bordeaux critic writes that you had to go back to 1949 to find equal heat, and that only 1947 had been hotter since records began.

Picking started at the end of August, one of the earliest harvests in Bordeaux history. Sources differ on the date: one gives August 31 and another August 28, and both say it was the earliest start since 1893. Merlot reached record alcohol for the time, 13.5% to almost 15% in some vats, and many Left Bank estates picked their Cabernet Sauvignon before it was fully ripe. The same critic concludes that, with the notable exception of Haut-Brion, the best wines of 1989 were not made by the First Growths.

Haut-Brion made 17,093 cases of its red grand vin in 1989, according to production figures that critic publishes. That is less than the 21,600 cases of 1982 but more than double the 8,094 cases of 2010, a decline he attributes to lower yields, stricter sorting and more wine sent to the second label or sold off in bulk.

A wine of perfect scores

Robert Parker has scored the 1989 Haut-Brion 100 points more than once. In a note based on a January 2003 tasting, he called it 'one of the immortal wines and one of the greatest young Bordeaux wines of the last half-century,' 'a modern-day legend,' and asked: 'A modern day clone of the 1959?' He closed: 'Life is too short not to drink this wine as many times as possible!'

Neal Martin, in a note dated January 2012, gave it 100 and called it 'one of the vinous peaks of the 20th century,' adding that 'everyone should try and taste it just once in their life.' James Suckling scored it 100 in August 2013, noting a finish that 'lasts for minutes on the palate.' Wine Spectator also rates it 100.

The scores have held for more than three decades. William Kelley of the Wine Advocate, writing in February 2022 about a wine from his own birth year, gave it 100 with a drinking window to 2059 and wrote that 'the only criticism one can make is that a 750-milliliter bottle simply isn't enough.' Jeff Leve of The Wine Cellar Insider scored it 100 in April 2022, describing a finish of more than 60 seconds, and again in April 2026. He ranks it with the 1961, 1959 and perhaps the 1945 as one of the estate's wines of the century.

Identifying the bottle

Haut-Brion's red grand vin comes in a bottle shaped after old decanters, first used for the 1958 vintage, which was released in 1960. Its label names Pessac-Leognan, in Graves, rather than one of the Medoc communes of the other original First Growths. Do not confuse it with La Mission Haut-Brion, La Tour Haut-Brion or Laville Haut-Brion, separate estates that share part of the name.

The estate also makes a white Haut-Brion Blanc from about 3 hectares of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, and the 1989 white is itself highly rated. The red second wine was called Bahans Haut-Brion until it was renamed Le Clarence de Haut-Brion with the 2007 vintage.

Today about 48 to 50 hectares are planted to red varieties; the estate's current plantings are reported as 45.4% Merlot, 43.9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9.7% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Sources give the whole estate as 51 or 52.82 hectares. Annual production of the red grand vin is reported as 8,000 to 10,000 cases by one source and 10,000 to 12,000 by another.

From cellar to trading floor

In September 2017 a 12-bottle lot of the 1989 opened a sale in New York with a pre-sale estimate of $15,000 to $22,000; the catalog noted that Pessac-Leognan and Pomerol shone brightest in the vintage. On December 10, 2021, a 12-bottle lot in its original wooden case sold at auction in Beverly Hills for $29,520.

On one London fine-wine exchange, the 1989 was the most-traded wine by value in the first half of 2018, when a trade at 25,000 pounds a case of 12 set an all-time high for the wine. An earlier report noted a record of 14,846 pounds a case, beating a previous high of 14,500 pounds set in 2011. A fine-wine trading desk showed a market value of $26,060 for a 12-bottle case in 2026, and a 750 ml bottle sold at an online auction in the United States for $1,800 in September 2026.

The numbers

Red vineyard

48.35 to 50 ha by different sources (estate total 51 or 52.82 ha)

Current red plantings

45.4% Merlot, 43.9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9.7% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot

1989 production

17,093 cases

Typical production today

8,000 to 10,000 cases per one source; 10,000 to 12,000 per another

Robert Parker

100

Wine Advocate (William Kelley, 2022)

100

Neal Martin

100

James Suckling

100

Wine Spectator

100

Jeff Leve

100

Timeline

1. Apr 23, 1525

   Jean de Pontac marries Jeanne de Bellon, whose dowry includes part of the Haut-Brion land.

2. 1649

   Arnaud III de Pontac becomes owner and begins selling the wine under the estate's name.

3. 1660

   King Charles II's cellar book records 169 bottles of 'wine of Hobriono' served at court in 1660 and 1661.

4. Apr 10, 1663

   Samuel Pepys writes of drinking 'Ho Bryen' at the Royal Oak Tavern in London.

5. 1666

   The Pontac family opens the Sign of Pontac's Head tavern in London.

6. May 25, 1787

   Thomas Jefferson visits Haut-Brion and later has six cases sent to Virginia.

7. 1801

   Talleyrand buys Haut-Brion and owns it for three years.

8. 1855

   Haut-Brion is ranked a First Growth, the only one outside the Medoc.

9. May 13, 1935

   Clarence Dillon buys Haut-Brion for 2,300,000 francs.

10. 1960

    The 1958 vintage is released in the estate's new decanter-shaped bottle.

11. 1961

    Jean-Bernard Delmas succeeds his father, Georges, as director.

12. 1983

    Domaine Clarence Dillon buys neighboring La Mission Haut-Brion.

13. Aug 1989

    Harvest of the 1989 begins at the end of August, among the earliest on record; 17,093 cases of red grand vin are made.

14. 2003

    Robert Parker publishes a 100-point note calling the 1989 one of the greatest young Bordeaux of the last half-century; Jean-Philippe Delmas takes over as director.

15. Jan 2012

    Neal Martin publishes a 100-point note on the 1989, calling it one of the vinous peaks of the 20th century.

16. Sep 9, 2017

    A 12-bottle lot opens a fine-wine sale in New York, estimated at $15,000 to $22,000.

17. Jul 2018

    The 1989 is reported as the most-traded wine by value of 2018 so far on a London fine-wine exchange, at an all-time high of 25,000 pounds a case.

18. Dec 10, 2021

    A 12-bottle original wooden case sells at auction in Beverly Hills for $29,520.

19. Feb 28, 2022

    The Wine Advocate publishes William Kelley's 100-point note, with a drinking window to 2059.

20. Apr 3, 2026

    Jeff Leve retastes the 1989 and again scores it 100.

The world in 1989

• Jan 7, 1989

  Emperor Hirohito of Japan dies; his son Akihito succeeds him.

• Mar 12, 1989

  Tim Berners-Lee writes the proposal that becomes the blueprint for the World Wide Web.

• Mar 24, 1989

  The Exxon Valdez runs aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound, causing one of the largest oil spills in US waters.

• May 20, 1989

  China's government declares martial law in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square protests.

• Jul 14, 1989

  France celebrates the bicentennial of the French Revolution with a monumental parade on the Champs-Elysees.

• Oct 17, 1989

  The Loma Prieta earthquake strikes the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 63 people and postponing the World Series.

• Nov 9, 1989

  East Germany opens its border checkpoints, and the Berlin Wall falls.

• Dec 21, 1989

  A crowd in Bucharest turns against Nicolae Ceausescu as the Romanian Revolution spreads.

Daily price data

FLOAT reprices this wine every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.

Every grade and recorded sale for this wine

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Chateau Haut-Brion 1989 is number 35 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (17 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Samuel Pepys's 1663 diary entry on 'Ho Bryen' is called the first tasting note of Haut-Brion; Magdalene College, Cambridge, displayed the page for its 350th anniversary in 2013.
• Thomas Jefferson had six cases of Haut-Brion sent to Virginia, making it the first recorded First Growth imported to the United States.
• Talleyrand, then France's minister for external relations, owned Haut-Brion for three years after buying it in 1801.
• One account of Clarence Dillon's 1935 purchase claims he never got out of the car.
• Haut-Brion asked for its white wine to be left out when the Graves wines were classified.
• In the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting, the 1970 Haut-Brion placed fourth among ten French and California reds.
• Haut-Brion makes about 70% of its barrels in its own on-site cooperage, according to one critic.