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Haut Bailly 2020

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Pessac-Léognan
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyCabernet Sauvignon/Merlot

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.

View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Château Haut-Bailly

Label

Tasting Notes

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.

99
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent, March 2023

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

94+
William Kelley, Wine Advocate, April 2023

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.

99/100
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, May 2021

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.

98
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com, February 2023

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.

92/95
Farr Vintners, Farr Tasting, April 2021

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.

99
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, October 2023

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

17+
James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2021

(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+.

94/96
Michael Schuster, The World of Fine Wine, May 2021
Read more tasting notes...

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.

96/98+
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (79), May 2021

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.

98
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com, February 2023

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

96
Jane Anson, Decanter.com, May 2021
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.