La Mission Haut Brion opens €5m cellar tonight

Chateau La Mission Haut Brion opens its new €5m, 1,200 barrel cellar and tasting room tonight.

The thousand-square-metre cellar was designed by architect Guy Tropprés, who has also recently worked on Chateau Yquem, Cheval Blanc and Vieux Chateau Certan. Its interiors are styled with extensive use of leather and wood by British designer James Hunter.

In keeping with the religious origins of the chateau itself, the space is built out of the same Frontenac limestone used for local cathedrals, has a vaulted ceiling, church pews along one wall and arches throughout.

Jean Philippe Delmas, director of Chateau Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion, told decanter.com, ‘We worked previously with three individual cellars, each holding around 300 barrels. This new space allows us to age two vintages in one area, although we have also created a subterranean cellar for the white wine.’

There will be a dinner for 300 in the cellar itself, with guests including owner Prince Robert of Luxembourg, the Cardinal of Bordeaux, Yasuhisa Hirose of Enoteca Japan, Ray Chadwick of Diageo, Janet Patterson of Watson’s in Hong Kong and Anthony Hanson of Christies, London.

During the works, which took two years, Chateau La Mission Haut Brion had been vinified in the winery at the property, but aged in the cellars of neighbouring Chateau Haut Brion.

Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux