The wine begins with an aromatic display of flowers, cigar box, currants, cherries, smoke, and burning wood, with only a subtle hint of espresso. The palate balances power, intense concentration, and elegance. Fresh, soft, energetic, and silky, the striking purity of the fruits with their smoky edge must be experienced. The seamless finish lingers for 60 seconds or more. It will be interesting for future generations to compare 2022 HB with 2022 LMHB over the coming decades. Regardless of which wine you choose, IMO, they are only 1 point apart, and that's today. Tomorrow could be different. The wine blends 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc. Drink from 2030-2065. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2022&wine=Chateau%20Haut-Brion

Dark and brooding aromatics on the nose - blackcurrants, cherries and plums with mint and graphite accents too. Smooth and so juicy, glorious and joyful on the palate - it bursts with ripe red berry fruit that has a touch of crushed stones and fruit flesh giving a textured mouthfeel. Just feels so enjoyable and really quite approachable now. Fruity, soft, svelte - there's sinew but no heaviness. It's sleek and sophisticated, confident but not showy - almost understated. Really fantastic, where LMHB carries a spiced vein with more heat, this is more relaxed and open. Calm and generous in terms of fruit purity with well integrated tannins and wood. Wonderful. Has a delicate charm, layered but really finely presented. 3.83pH. 63% new oak.

This is one of the deepest Haut-Brions I have encountered in a long time. The muscular structure takes you down, delivering a long and rather endless finish. Full-bodied with lots of flavor, particularly fruits such as currants as well as black truffles, cedar, walnuts and dark mushrooms. Some dried thyme and crushed stones also. Better give this eight to 10 years. This will improve for decades. Try after 2030.

The depth and concentration is clear. Cocoa bean, espresso, gingerbread spice, all as you would expect in this type of vintage, but given restraint and understated finesse by mint leaf, pomegranate, mandarin peel, a gathering of lightness, nuance and grace. Exceptional quality, give it plenty of time because these are muscular tannins, and this is a wine that will go the distance and then some. Jean-Philippe Masclef technical director, Jean-Philippe Delmas director.

(98+ points) A blockbuster of a wine from this château, the 2022 Château Haut-Brion is based on 53.6% Merlot, 35.4% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 11% Cabernet Franc. It's slightly deeper hued than its sibling, the La Mission Haut-Brion, and brings a slightly firmer, more masculine style in its smoky blackcurrants, scorched earth, graphite, violet, and tobacco-driven aromas and flavors. As good as it gets on the palate, this sensationally layered, seamless Haut-Brion has medium to full-bodied richness, a sensationally pure, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, building yet polished tannins, and an incredible finish. It deserves at least a decade in the cellar (it's clearly enjoyable even today), and I suspect it will evolve for 50-75 years or more, given its balance, concentration, and structure.

The blend has a slightly Merlot dominance, at just over 53%, the remainder more Cabernet Sauvignon than Cabernet Franc, although the latter still accounts for 11%. The élevage was in 63% new oak. Dark, toasted rather introverted on the nose compared to La Mission which was of course tasted alongside, with savoury dark fruits and a little crushed oyster shell. This continues on the palate which is rather brooding, with a fibrous core of sinew, wrapped in tendons of dark fruit, while all around buzz the toasted, savoury, smoky elements, draped over an intensely charged structure of vibrant, firm, tightly knit and lightly drying tannins. This is a substantial Haut-Brion with great potential, as indicated by the incredibly long, charged, electric finish. The alcohol on the label is 14.5%. - Chris Kissack

(98+ points) The 2022 Haut-Brion is powerful and explosive. At the same time, it is incredibly reticent. None of that should be of concern for readers who can wait. Black-toned fruit, gravel, incense, scorched earth and licorice all stain the palate, framed by impenetrable, imposing tannins. A vertical, explosive wine, the 2022 is going to need a number of years to be at its best. I suspect it will be magnificent in many years' time. The Haut-Brion softens with a bit of time in the glass, but it remains very much a blockbuster. -- Antonio Galloni

(97+ points) The 2022 Haut-Brion, which was bottled in May 2024, lives up to the high expectations I had set for it and then some. Revealing a dense, complex and precise bouquet of dark berries, pencil lead, cedar box, rose and spices intertwined with discreet notes of oak, it's full-bodied, dense and concentrated, with a muscular chassis of tannins and an enveloping core of fruit that retains energy and purity, concluding with youthful grip. Given the inherent quality of the terroir, time is likely to be very kind to this vintage, allowing it to integrate and mature gracefully. - Yohan Castaing