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96 By Robert Parker
96 By Robert Parker
18 By Rene Gabriel
18 By Rene Gabriel
94 By James Suckling
93 By Wine Spectator
93 By Wine Spectator
The classic 2012 Haut-Bailly is staggeringly great wine, with a stunning bouquet of lead pencil shavings, blueberries, black raspberries and blackcurrants and perhaps a touch of spring flowers, followed by a medium to full-bodied wine with an almost seamless integration of wood, alcohol and tannin. It is rich, concentrated, stunningly supple, pure and a total hedonistic and intellectual turn-on. This wine defines what is meant by intensity of flavor, but it is light on its feet, à la great cuisine. It should be drinkable reasonably young, but age effortlessly for 25-30 years. One of the great shining superstars of Pessac-Léognan has been the ascent of Haut-Bailly under the ownership of Robert Wilmers, an American, and his winemaking team lead by Véronique Sanders. Readers checking the database of the Wine Advocate will note that the 2009 has been elevated to a perfect score, which is of course not surprising, since it started off with a 98-point rating.
Producer
Château Haut Bailly
A true Graves Cru Classé, Château Haut-Bailly is known for their consistently well-crafted reds, which are elegant, approachable and refined. Located in the Pessac-Léognan appellation, the château can trace its roots as far back as 1461. The influential Sanders family acquired the estate in 1955, before passing the ownership to Robert G. Wilmers. As an American banker, Wilmers bought the Château in 1998, however, the Sanders family is still represented by Véronique Sanders, who joined the Haut-Bailly team as the estate’s General Manager. Compared to its neighboring properties, the 30-hectare Léognan vineyard exclusively produces red wines, quite unusual for the Left Bank as many estates are also famous for their whites. Haut-Bailly has an important percentage of very old vines planted in the late 19th century by Alcide Bellot des Minières, the owner at the time. These unique 4-hectares, with six different grape varieties, form a precious collection of rare genetic material with an average age of 100 years old. Today, the château ranks amongst the best, their Grand Vin is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and is labeled as Haut-Bailly. The terroir wine offers a profound concentration of fruit that shows the house’s signature silkiness and smoothness.