L’Atelier La Mission 1959

The La Mission de L’Atelier, French for the mission of the workshop, and much of the details behind the concept of the brand draw inspiration from Château La Mission Haut-Brion, a French winery located southeast of Bordeaux in the Pessac-Léognan region.

It launched in three vitolas—the same three as the original L’Atelier line—but this times the sizes are named after years in which Château La Mission Haut-Brion has been awarded a 100-point rating from noted wine critic Robert Parker.

Parker has awarded four other 100-point ratings to the winery with those taking place in 1955, 1982, 2000 and 2015. Johnson told halfwheel that there would be additional sizes made for each of those events.

Despite all the tie-ins to Château La Mission Haut-Brion, there’s no official partnership between the cigar company and the winery. Furthermore, the winery isn’t even the same one Johnson uses to make his own Tatouage wine.

It’s most certainly not the prettiest looking cigar I’ve seen from L’Atelier Imports and on a few examples, the wrapper shows a variety of different colors. That being said, it appears to be well-rolled and features a pigtail, which seems to have dipped in popularity in the last 18 months for whatever reason. There’s a lot of barnyard from the wrapper with just a touch of sweet cocoa. On the foot of the La Mission I find roasted garlic, some gyro meat and leather. It’s sweeter than the wrapper aroma, albeit where that sweetness is coming from isn’t as clear. The cold draw shows a completely different profile: chocolate ice cream with some red pepper, raw coffee beans and earth. I was expecting it to be a bit stronger than it was, but in the end I’d peg it just north of medium.

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