Tasted ex-chateau and single blind in Southwold. Tasted from two bottles, the Haut Brion 2008 has an austere, quite earthy bouquet with brambly red fruit, wild strawberry and cranberry, well-integrated new oak and palpable mineralite. The palate is medium-bodied with a succulent entry; fine acidity, very svelte tannins with judicious creamy new oak rounding off the seductive, yet muscular finish with a peacock's tail of graphite and sous-bois on the aftertaste. Difficult to separate from La Mission at the moment, although I think this is the longer-term bet. Tasted January 2012.