Château Haut-Bages Libéral takes its name from the Libéral family, who became formal proprietors of this Pauillac estate in 1834. Ownership passed through the Cruse family in 1960 and the Taillan Group in 1983, and the property is now run by Claire Villars-Lurton of the Villars-Lurton family, who also oversees Château Ferrière and La Gurgue in Margaux. The 30-hectare vineyard sits in two distinct pockets: one on clay-limestone soil bordering Château Latour, the other on deep Günz-era gravel atop the Bages plateau, giving the wine both structure and finesse.

The 2014 vintage is a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant blend in the estate's classic style, fermented in a mix of stainless steel and cement vats and aged roughly 40% in new French oak for 14 to 18 months. Cool and later-ripening, 2014 favored the Left Bank's Cabernet-based wines, and this bottling shows the vintage's bright, focused character: dark berry fruit, tobacco, and cedar, framed by refined, well-integrated tannins.

Why You'll Love It

• A classic, Cabernet-driven Pauillac from a Fifth Growth estate with real pedigree.
• Blackberry, cassis, and dark red fruit layered with tobacco and cedar.
• Medium-bodied with a dusty, structured tannin backbone.
• A bright, piquant cassis-laced finish.
• Rated 90 points by The Wine Cellar Insider.
• A decade-plus of bottle age has brought this wine into a lovely drinking window.

How To Serve It

• Serve at 60-65°F.
• Decant for about an hour to soften the tannins and open the fruit.
• Pour into a large-bowled Bordeaux glass.
• Pair with an herb-and-garlic-crusted rack of lamb finished with a Bordelaise reduction, or braised short rib with juniper and black cherry jus.