One of the better successes of this overlooked and misunderstood vintage is the 2002 La Mission Haut-Brion, a wine that's really beginning to drink well. Offering up a deep bouquet of cassis, burning embers and cigar ash, it's medium to full-bodied, with a sweet core of fruit and a rich chassis of tannin. Served blind, after a decant of a couple of hours to flesh out, it tends to pass for a more reputed vintage; it's only held back by a slight lack of mid-palate density to balance its structure and the fact that it tastes about a decade older than a top vintage for this address such as 1998.

By William Kelley December 2023