Sheesh, maybe we shouldn’t have said “cult garagiste” - that Mazerat SOLD OUT at warping speed.

Back to “regular” Left Bank programming.

Okay we lied, there is NOTHING regular about Haut-Brion, be it their Grand Vin, third, or second wine.

Clarence is second to none.

“Give me a !#*&@% minute” interjected Agent Noir when he was told to rush through the Haut-Brion flight with this in there. That’s how complex these wines are. They unfold by the minute, revealing new layers as they breathe.

What Robert Parker finds in Clarence: “Endowed with gorgeous fruit, texture, purity and elegance, this relatively dense second wine demonstrates how draconian the selection process has become for the top estates in Bordeaux in recent years.”

Oh, and you’d be paying $800-1,000 a bottle for the big brother. This is cut from the same cloth, perhaps the younger vines and with more Merlot in the blend, all to give it early drinkability with the same ‘Haut-Brion-ness’ that leaves you breathless.

97 Points – James Suckling

“A refined, silky red with currant, chocolate, walnut and leaf aromas and flavors. Medium to full body with very fine tannins and a polished, refined finish. Very sleek and creamy. It really sneaks up at the end. Better after 2025.”

94 Points – Wine Spectator

“Ripe and rich, but suave and elegant in style, letting its range of steeped plum, warmed cassis and mulled black cherry fruit play out slowly while sweet tobacco, incense and black tea notes swirl about. Very finely beaded acidity stretches out the finish. Hard to resist now, but this has some time to develop. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2034.”