La Mission Haut-Brion white changes name

The white wine of Château La Mission Haut-Brion, one of the most celebrated whites in Bordeaux, will change its name as of the 2009 vintage.

Previously known as Château Laville Haut-Brion, it will become simply Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc.

The former name, Laville Haut-Brion, dates from 1928, and was the combination of two separate estate names, Château La Mission Haut-Brion and Clos Laville.

The latter is a 2.5 hectare neighbouring estate bought by the then-owner of La Mission, Frederic Woltner, which produced a majority of white wine.

There are no records of La Mission producing white wine before this date, but for the next four vintages (1927, 1928, 1929, and 1930), the wine was bottled under the name Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc. By 1934, it had become Château Laville Haut-Brion.

The 2008 vintage will be the last under this name, and as of 2009, the wine, produced exclusively since 1927 in the Château La Mission Haut-Brion cellars, will revert to its original name, La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc.

The second wine, combining selected plots from both Château Haut-Brion Blanc and Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc, has also been renamed, from Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion to La Clarté de Haut-Brion.

Prince Robert of Luxembourg, president of Chateau Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut Brion, told decanter.com, ‘It was frustrating for me when even people close to us couldn’t remember our family of wines.

‘Even though Laville Haut-Brion had a wonderful reputation, people didn’t always know that it was the white wine of La Mission. We want our consumers to understand where our wines come from, and what they stand for.’

The second wine of Chateau Haut-Brion was changed for the 2007 vintage from Chateau Bahans Haut-Brion to Le Clarence de Haut-Brion.

Follow us on Twitter

Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux