FLOAT 100 · Wine · No. 35
Chateau Haut-Brion 2009
In one of the driest summers Bordeaux had seen in years, the oldest of the First Growths made a wine with the highest alcohol in its history, and its own makers called it the most beautiful they had ever produced.
- Maker
- Chateau Haut-Brion
- By price in wine
- 48 of 100
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Create a free account- Estate
- Chateau Haut-Brion, Pessac, in the Pessac-Leognan appellation of Graves, Bordeaux
- Classification
- Premier Grand Cru in 1855, the only estate outside the Medoc among the original First Growths
- Owner
- Domaine Clarence Dillon, headed since 2008 by Prince Robert of Luxembourg; Dillon family owners since 1935
- Director
- Jean-Philippe Delmas, who succeeded his father in 2003
- Blend
- 46% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc
- Harvest
- September 9 to October 6, 2009, for the red grapes
- Alcohol
- 14.5% per the estate; Robert Parker reported 14.3%, the highest ever achieved there; Jeff Leve gives 14.2%
- Oak and bottling
- 78% new barrels; bottled June 22 to 27, 2011
- Production
- 10,500 cases per Robert Parker; 11,000 cases per Jeff Leve
- Critics
- 100 from Robert Parker, the Wine Advocate (2019) and James Suckling
The first claret with a name
Haut-Brion is the estate that taught the English to ask for Bordeaux by name. The 1660 cellar book of King Charles II and the diary of Samuel Pepys are described as the first mentions in any language of an estate-named claret. On April 10, 1663, Pepys wrote 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.' In April 2013 Magdalene College, Cambridge, displayed the diary open to that page for the 350th anniversary.
In 1787 Thomas Jefferson, then the American minister to France, came to Bordeaux and visited. In the classification of 1855, drawn up ahead of the Paris International Exhibition, Haut-Brion was ranked Premier Grand Cru, the only estate from Graves alongside the three First Growths of the Medoc. Its prices in the 19th century were consistently higher than those of any other Bordeaux wine.
The American banker Clarence Dillon bought Haut-Brion on May 13, 1935, for 2,300,000 francs. Unverified stories surround the purchase: he is said to have considered Cheval Blanc, Ausone or a share of Margaux, and one account claims he never got out of the car. The family company, Domaine Clarence Dillon, still owns it, and in 1983 bought the longtime rival across the road, La Mission Haut-Brion.
The Delmas family and the Dillons
For most of a century Haut-Brion's wines have been made by one family of managers. Georges Delmas, formerly of Cos d'Estournel, became director in 1921. His son Jean-Bernard Delmas, born at the estate, succeeded him in 1961; in the 1960s Haut-Brion became the first of the great growths to adopt stainless steel fermentation vats, and clonal selection research began in 1972. Jean-Bernard retired in 2003 and was succeeded by his son, Jean-Philippe Delmas, who made the 2009.
On the ownership side, Clarence Dillon's granddaughter Joan Dillon took over the company in 1975. Her son, Prince Robert of Luxembourg, who had worked as an administrator at Haut-Brion since he was 18, became president and chief executive of Domaine Clarence Dillon in 2008, the year before this vintage.
The 2009 also marked a change for the estate's white wines: starting with that vintage, the second white wine, Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion, was renamed La Clarte de Haut-Brion. The red second wine had already been renamed Le Clarence de Haut-Brion with the 2007 vintage.
2009: dry, ripe and early
The estate's own account of the season: spring began under rain, flowering was even thanks to warm, dry weather in late May and early June, and July, August and September were very dry. The estate calls 2009 one of the driest vintages in recent years, which let the grapes ripen perfectly. Picking began on the last day of August with the white grapes and ran into the first week of October with almost no rain. The red grapes for the grand vin were picked from September 9 to October 6.
Across Bordeaux the vintage was famous for opulence. Jeff Leve called it 'the sexiest, most opulent vintage I have tasted from the region,' while warning that it was not consistent from one appellation to the next, and noted that Pessac-Leognan was successful. When Robert Parker published his in-bottle ratings in April 2012, 19 different 2009 Bordeaux received 100 points. The futures campaign had been shockingly expensive, Leve wrote, and was the first in nearly 30 years not heavily promoted to American buyers.
The finished Haut-Brion is 46% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Cabernet Franc, raised in 78% new oak and bottled June 22 to 27, 2011. The estate lists 14.5% alcohol; Parker reported 14.3% and called it the highest alcohol ever achieved at the estate, with a pH close to 4.0; Jeff Leve gives 14.2% and a pH of 3.9.
A cross between 1989 and 2005
The estate's own tasting note is unusually blunt for a First Growth. It calls the wine so rich and concentrated 'that we are tempted to use the word thick,' says it recalls the 2005 in power and the 1989 and 1990 in ripeness, and concludes: 'We are now able to say that it is the most beautiful wine the estate has ever produced.'
Robert Parker scored it 100 in the Wine Advocate in February 2012: 'What a blockbuster effort! Atypically powerful, one day, the 2009 Haut-Brion may be considered to be the 21st century version of the 1959.' He wrote it was even richer than the perfect 1989 and should last 'a half century or more.' James Suckling, also at 100 in May 2012, wrote that it 'could well be better than the perfect 1989.' Lisa Perrotti-Brown of the Wine Advocate retasted it and gave 100 again in March 2019: 'This needs time!'
Not everyone went to 100. Neal Martin, tasting it blind at a 2009 horizontal in January 2013, scored it 97 and found it 'slightly low in acidity, making this forward and approachable.' Retail listings show Decanter and Wine Spectator at 98 and Wine Enthusiast at 96. Jeff Leve has scored it both 100 and, in a July 2024 note, 99 with a drinking window of 2027 to 2059. Jeb Dunnuck, quoted by a California retailer, called it 'a legendary wine' that 'will forever go down in Haut-Brion lore.'
Identifying the bottle
Haut-Brion's red grand vin comes in a bottle modeled on old decanters, first used for the 1958 vintage, released in 1960. Its label names Pessac-Leognan, not a Medoc commune. Do not confuse it with La Mission Haut-Brion, a separate estate owned by the same company, or with Le Clarence de Haut-Brion, the red second wine, or with Haut-Brion Blanc. The 2009 Haut-Brion Blanc was itself a very different wine: 62% Sauvignon Blanc and 38% Semillon, picked August 31 to September 8 and bottled in July 2010.
Production was modest by historical standards. Parker reported 10,500 cases; Leve gives 11,000, against 17,093 cases for 1989 and 8,094 for 2010, a decline he attributes to lower yields, stricter sorting and more wine sent to the second label or sold in bulk.
On the market, a six-bottle lot in its original wooden case sold for $4,000 in an online auction that closed on December 18, 2024, against an estimate of $2,800 to $3,800, or about $667 a bottle. A fine-wine trading desk showed market values of roughly $8,840 to $9,170 for a 12-bottle case in 2026, and a California retailer listed a bottle at $999.99, shown as out of stock.
The numbers
- 2009 blend
- 46% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc
- 2009 production
- 10,500 cases (Robert Parker); 11,000 cases (Jeff Leve)
- Alcohol
- 14.5% (estate); 14.3% (Robert Parker); 14.2% (Jeff Leve)
- New oak
- 78%
- Robert Parker (Wine Advocate, 2012)
- 100
- Lisa Perrotti-Brown (Wine Advocate, 2019)
- 100
- James Suckling
- 100
- Jeff Leve
- 100 in an earlier note; 99 in July 2024
- Decanter / Wine Spectator
- 98 / 98 (as listed by a retailer)
- Neal Martin (2013)
- 97
Timeline
Samuel Pepys writes of drinking 'Ho Bryen' at the Royal Oak Tavern in London.
Thomas Jefferson, American minister to France, visits Bordeaux and the estate.
Haut-Brion is ranked Premier Grand Cru, the only one from Graves.
Georges Delmas becomes director of Haut-Brion.
Clarence Dillon buys Haut-Brion for 2,300,000 francs.
The 1958 vintage is released in the estate's decanter-shaped bottle.
Jean-Bernard Delmas succeeds his father as director.
Domaine Clarence Dillon acquires La Mission Haut-Brion.
Jean-Philippe Delmas succeeds his father as director.
Prince Robert of Luxembourg becomes president and chief executive of Domaine Clarence Dillon.
Harvest of the red grapes for the 2009 begins; it ends October 6.
Bottling of the 2009 begins, running through June 27.
Robert Parker publishes a 100-point note in the Wine Advocate.
Parker's in-bottle ratings give 100 points to 19 different 2009 Bordeaux.
James Suckling scores the 2009 100 points.
Neal Martin tastes it blind and scores it 97.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown of the Wine Advocate retastes it at 100 points.
Jeff Leve scores it 99 with a drinking window of 2027 to 2059.
A six-bottle lot in original wooden case sells for $4,000 in an online auction.
The world in 2009
The first block of the Bitcoin blockchain is created.
US Airways Flight 1549 ditches in the Hudson River; all 155 aboard are rescued.
Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.
An earthquake near L'Aquila, Italy, kills 308 people.
Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic, killing all 228 aboard.
The H1N1 'swine flu' outbreak is declared a global pandemic.
Michael Jackson dies at 50.
Daily price data
FLOAT reprices this wine every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | $1,000 | Asking price, not a saleListed at $999.99 by a California retailer, shown as out of stock. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Chateau Haut-Brion 2009 is number 48 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 (35 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Pepys's 1663 diary entry on 'Ho Bryen' is among the earliest mentions anywhere of a claret sold under an estate's name.
- Haut-Brion's own tasting note on the 2009 calls it the most beautiful wine the estate has ever produced.
- Parker suggested the 2009 might one day be seen as the 21st-century version of the 1959.
- In 2009 Haut-Brion picked its white grapes from August 31, more than a week before it began on the reds.
- In the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting, the 1970 Haut-Brion placed fourth among ten French and California reds.
- One account of Clarence Dillon's 1935 purchase says he never got out of the car.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026