Chateau La Mission Haut Brion

The Lestonnac family started making wines from a plot called Arregedhuys, which is now known as La Mission Haut-Brion, in 1540. The most important figure among the Lestonnac family is Olive de Lestonnac, who devoted her life and fortune to various philanthropic and religious actions. She left her wealth to catholic church, and the vineyard became under the ownership of the Priests of the Mission, where priests began to make wines.

Now the Dillon family owns La Mission Haut-Brion along with Chateau Haut-Brion and Chateau Quintus. Since the acquisition in 1983, the Dillon family renovated and rebuilt all parts of the buildings, such as new tasting room, new cellars, bottling center, and improved storage area.

The vineyard is located only a few miles Southwest of Bordeaux’s city center. It belongs to the Pessac-Leognan appellation, to the North of the Graves region, situating just opposite of Chateau Haut-Brion. The nature of the gravel at the Chateau consists small stones of various types of quartz, and lies on a single subsoil of clay, sand, limestone, and falun. The vineyard covers 29 hectares. Nearly 25 hectares are planted with red grape varieties, such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc, and just over 4 hectares are devoted to white grape varieties, such as Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.

The grapes are harvested by hand according to ripeness, then sorted and de-stalked leaving only the quintessence. The wine is aged between 20 to 24 months in the new barrels. Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion is considered to be the 6th Premier Grand Cru Class by wine lovers. 2018 vintage has received 98-100 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.