ROBERT PARKER - THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2018 La Mission Haut-Brion is composed of 53.5% Merlot, 42.9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3.6% Cabernet Franc, harvested September 10 to October 2. Deep purple-black in color, it slowly unfurls to reveal a beguiling nose of earth and soft-spoken fruit, opening with wild blueberries, wet slate, pencil lead and fresh black cherries giving way to a serious core of blackcurrant cordial, baked plums and wild sage, and then exposing delicate wafts of rose hip tea and candied violets. Full-bodied, the palate is very tightly wound and super intense with amazing restraint and energy focused around very firm, exquisitely fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing incredibly long and fantastically multilayered. Extraordinary wine. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown"

DECANTER: "An extremely fine Mission, just beginning to say its piece. It's dense, gorgeously velvety in texture and bursting with fruit and energy. On the palate you get liquorice and dark chocolate notes, showing clear generosity while easily walking the line of balance. The longer it sits in the glass, the more the minerality takes hold on the mid-palate, doling out its tiny sparks of electricity and holding your attention. The subtle smoke, freshly cut herbs and tight tannins steal up on you, planting their flag in the finish. Harvested 10 September to 2 October, giving a 44hl/ha yield. 1% Petit Verdot completes the blend. IPT 75.8. The 3.76pH is the highest since 1989. - Jane Anson"

FALSTAFF: "Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarter Wasserrand. Reife Beerenfrucht, feiner Feigentouch, ein Hauch von Nougat, einladendes Bukett. Komplex, saftig, reife Herzkirschen, präsente, gut eingebundene Tannine, schokoladiger Nachhall, gut anhaftend, feine Mineralität, zarte Röstaromen im Rückgeschmack, sehr gute Länge. - Peter Moser"