Stories
The 2026 Harvest
2026 stands apart as a singular vintage in the history of Château Haut-Brion.
Heat, drought and exceptional earliness defined a record-breaking year. The resilience of the terroir and the vines, combined with the precision of the decisions made by the teams, is now shaping the contours of a promising vintage.
A season without precedent
After a mild and particularly wet winter, spring set the pace for the vintage very early on. The vines accelerated rapidly, with flowering eventually taking place almost two weeks ahead of the previous year.
Summer extended this dynamic under unprecedented conditions of heat and drought. With 32 days above 35°C, 2026 stands apart in Château Haut-Brion’s climatic records.
From an early stage, the teams adapted their practices to this new reading of the vineyard: preserving the foliage, limiting certain interventions and accompanying each plot according to its response to the conditions of the year. These decisions proved essential in preserving the quality of the harvest.
10 August, the white harvest begins
The first maturity checks began as early as 30 July. Tastings and observations then allowed the teams to wait for the right moment for each plot.
10 August marked the beginning of the white harvest, the earliest ever recorded at Château Haut-Brion. From 6 a.m., the first grapes were picked by headlamp, in the cool hours before sunrise.
The usual picking order of the grape varieties was sometimes reconsidered as ripening progressed, illustrating a vintage whose story was written plot by plot.
20 August, the first red grapes
Ten days later, the first red grapes entered the cellar, setting another historic date for Château Haut-Brion.
In a vintage where each vine responded differently to the summer conditions, sorting played an essential role. Manual selection, followed by the Densibaie and optical sorting systems, allowed the teams to select with precision the berries destined for each vat.
The particularly favourable weather at the end of summer then offered a valuable advantage: the ability to wait, without haste, for each plot to reach the desired level of ripeness.
“ We harvested for more than six weeks, with the peace of mind that ideal weather brings. We followed the ripening of each grape variety, adjusting the usual picking order where needed. The structure and power now emerging suggest a very fine vintage ahead. The wines taking shape at Haut-Brion seem to have captured the intensity of this record-breaking year. ”
Jean-Philippe Delmas, Deputy Managing Director – Wines & Estates
A vintage taking shape
After more than six weeks of harvesting, the first vinifications are gradually revealing the character of the vintage.
The structure and power now emerging in the wines reflect the singularity of the year, with Château Haut-Brion seemingly transforming its extremes into intensity.
