Region | |
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Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Pessac-Léognan |
Colour | Red |
Type | Still |
This Pessac-Léognan property of 30 hectares is managed by Véronique Sanders. The vineyard is planted with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 34% Merlot. The second wine here recently changed name to Haut Bailly II instead of La Parde de Haut Bailly.
A blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot, the 2020 Haut-Bailly is deep garnet-purple in color. It needs a bit of swirling to coax out notions of black cherry compote, blackcurrant pastilles, and blackberry preserves, giving way to fragrant wafts of violets, dark chocolate, cardamom, and sassafras, with a touch of Indian spices. The medium to full-bodied palate is an exercise in poise, delivering tightly wrapped black fruit, exotic spice and floral layers, with a super-plush texture and seamless acidity, finishing very long with loads of mineral sparks and tons of energy.
The 2020 Haut-Bailly showed extremely well when I tasted it at my home during lockdown. Now in bottle since spring 2022, it upholds a wonderful bouquet with multi-layered black fruit laced with briary, flint, blood orange and light peony scents. That orange element becomes a touch more pronounced with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, fine backbone, brimming with energy and remaining harmonious from start to finish. This is a long-term prospect, an achievement considering that this was supposed to be vinified in their new winery, but due to Covid delays ended up being vinified in their old facility (though barrel maturation was able to be done in the new cellar.)
The 2020 Haut-Bailly opens in the glass with attractive aromas of cassis, sweet berries, loamy soil, violets and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, it's a concentrated, rather broad-shouldered wine built around a chassis of firm, powdery tannin that asserts itself on the finish. Haut-Bailly once rivaled Haut-Brion for the title of Pessac's most elegant wine, and I would love to see the team here ease off extraction, but this remains a strong effort that will reward patience. 2030 - 2055
This has incredible power and drive with blackberry, black olive and graphite. It’s full-bodied, yet dynamic and agile, with so much polished and muscular tannin. Yet, it remains in harmony and balance. So much character. The head of the chateau calls it diabolical beauty. 25% less production than the 2019. 52% cabernet sauvignon, 42% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 3% petit verdot.
Ruby violet colour, beautiful glass-staining purple; right up there among the best wines of the vintage. Serious structure and tannic architecture delivered with finesse. Plenty of estate signature also in its depth and poise, showing clarity, purity and precision to the blackcurrant, bilberry, blackberry and pomegrantage fruits, spiced chocolate and bitter aniseed and frangipane on the finish. An upscore from En Primeur. One to savour.
The 2020 is the first wine to be aged in Haut Bailly's new cellar. It is a blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. The harvest was early, from 9th-25th September. Analytically the pH, acidity, tannins and alcohol are similar to the 2010, though in the glass the wine is stylistically quite different. Deep ruby in colour with a fresh nose of cool blackcurrant and dried herbs. The palate is surprisingly soft and forward for this estate, with bright red cherry and plum fruit to the fore. The tannins are still noticeable, but offer a more gentle, crunchy frame. There is a sweet, incense-infused spiciness through to the finishes that bolsters the fruit core and leaves a lingering, silky aftertaste.
Another wine I underrated on release, the 2020 Château Haut-Bailly is just about pure perfection, and whereas the 2018 is closer in style to the 2009, this plays things a little closer to its vest and is reminiscent of the 2010. Full-bodied, concentrated, and powerful, it nevertheless cuts a focused, precise path across the palate and brings incredible purity in its darker fruits, smoked tobacco, cedar pencil, and Asian spice-driven aromas and flavors. The tannin quality here is off the charts, and this beauty has everything you could want from wine. It needs a solid 4-6 years (if not longer) to hit the early stages of its prime drinking window, and it's going to evolve for 50+ years.
52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot. Cask sample.
Powerful, deep-coloured wine with a considerable tannic core. Mellow fruit provides a suave texture but the pixelated tannins are still palpable. Intense, brooding with lots of extract, the finish warm, the oak just present. Needs time to knit. (JL) 14.3%
Drink 2028 – 2045
(52% CS, 42% M; 14.3% ABV)
Closed, minerally to smell, with a great finesse; full, supple yet fresh, and very fine in tannin, an effortlessly beautiful balance; long and graceful, very Haut-Bailly in style, full of soft, sweet, freshly ripe fruit, long and subtle across the palate, and with wonderful fragrant length. A gloriously complete wine of great class. Power and delicacy, great beauty in a particularly discreet style. First-growth quality and refinement, an illuminating tribute to the splendid new chai. Likely to be accessible early, but offer decades of pleasure. 2028–50+.
The 2020 Haut-Bailly was picked September 9–25 in what the estate has called the "year of reinvention." Having left my sample to open for 30 minutes and then assessed it over the following three hours, I found that it has a mercurial nose of gorgeous blackberry, briar, white pepper, incense and hints of blood orange. It gains intensity and becomes more floral with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple but firm tannins that provide backbone. There is plenty of black fruit laced with white pepper and clove. Perhaps less rich on the finish compared to the last two vintages – a virtue as far as I am concerned, as it allows more terroir to show through. This is an impressive Haut-Bailly to coincide with their new winery, which I hope to visit very soon. Drink 2030-2065.
A blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, the 2020 Haut-Bailly was harvested from the 9th to 25th of September. It has an alcohol of 14.3%. Deep purple-black in color, it prances out of the glass with naturally beautiful notions of fresh black cherries, violets, mulberries and boysenberries, giving way to hints of redcurrant jelly, star anise, tilled soil and menthol. The medium to full-bodied palate is delicately crafted with velvety/grainy tannins and fantastic freshness framing the perfumed red and black berry layers, finishing on a lingering fragrant-earth note. Drink 2025-2050.
Ruby violet colour, beautiful glass-staining purple; right up there among the best wines of the vintage. Serious structure and tannic architecture delivered with finesse. Plenty of estate signature also in its depth and poise, showing clarity, purity and precision to the blackcurrant, bilberry, blackberry and pomegrantage fruits, spiced chocolate and bitter aniseed and frangipane on the finish. An upscore from En Primeur. One to savour.
Rich in texture and colour, this has clear layers and complexity, a wine that you want to take your time with, slow down and enjoy. One that will take its time to age also. This has a precision and a clarity to the aromatics, and a gentle buzz of minerality that gives a physical reaction in the mouth. Less exuberant than the 2018 or 2019, making this a vintage that suits the style of Haut-Bailly. A slight austerity to the tannins on the finish gives a blueberry redcurrant edge. 3% Petit Verdot completes the blend (now around eight years old), usually co-fermented with the Cabernet Sauvignon (sometimes with Cabernet Franc). IPT similar to 2016, 2010, 2005, but with a softness that comes from extremely ripe tannins. Strong potential for upscoring when it bottle.
Drinking Window 2030 - 2050