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Véronique Sanders described the 2018 vintage at Ch Haut Bailly as “Vive La Liberté”: the freedom to act as and when required in the vineyard to protect against the climatic challenges of the year. The appellation of Pessac-Léognan was tested during the season and yields at the estate were reduced by 50%. Veronique and her winemaking team have crafted a very intense and concentrated wine from their small crop. A high toned wine full of perfumed black fruits, with great concentration and a layered gravelly tannic core. This is a full muscular wine with long lingering flavours.
Véronique Sanders described the 2018 vintage at Ch Haut Bailly as “Vive La Liberté”: the freedom to act as and when required in the vineyard to protect against the climatic challenges of the year. The appellation of Pessac-Léognan was tested during the season and yields at the estate were reduced by 50%. Veronique and her winemaking team have crafted a very intense and concentrated wine from their small crop. A high toned wine full of perfumed black fruits, with great concentration and a layered gravelly tannic core. This is a full muscular wine with long lingering flavours.
After one bottle broke in transit, Véronique Sanders dispatched a replacement toute de suite. The 2018 Haut-Bailly retains its almost sumptuous bouquet of black cherries, boysenberry and huge bunches of freshly picked violets. The medium-bodied palate presents layers of black fruit laced with white pepper and iodine. This Haut-Bailly is very supple, the tannins very fine, and during its barrel aging, it has gained decidedly more grip on the finish. Whereas on day one it exhibits hedonism, returning on day two, it coheres marvelously and attains far more complexity and sense of grandeur on the finish. A sophisticated Haut-Bailly that should not be underestimated. Drink 2025-2055
The 2018 Haut-Bailly was picked from 17 September and 9 October. It has a very pure bouquet with perfumed black cherry and raspberry fruit laced with violet and iris petals. This is very impressive: very focused and demonstrating exquisite delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins that mask the structure underneath. It is velvety in texture with a complex truffle and iodine tinged finish that according to Véronique Sanders has a softness that has manifested in recent months after en primeur. This is a very promising Haut-Bailly, one from the top drawer.
The 2018 Haut-Bailly speaks with real authority and class. Deeply spiced notes lead into a core of red/purplish berry fruit, lavender, licorice, new leather, menthol and tobacco. Vivid and dramatic in bearing, the 2018 possesses striking resonance from start to finish. There is plenty of tannin as well, but it is pretty much buried by the sheer luxuriousness of the fruit, while the mid-palate and saline-infused finish show terrific freshness as well as purity. The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot.
The 2018 Haut-Bailly is blended of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Grapes were harvested September 17 to October 9, and the wine has 14.4% alcohol. Deep purple-black in color, it opens slowly with profound notions of Black Forest cake, crème de cassis, roasted nuts and black olives, unfurling to reveal notions of menthol, crushed rocks, molten licorice and chargrilled meat plus a hint of lilacs. Full-bodied, rich and densely laden with layer upon layer of vibrant black fruits and mineral nuances, it has a solid backbone of firm, velvety tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long with compelling restraint and exciting energy.
Incredible depth of fruit to this with a center palate that shows superb character and texture. I love the hazelnut and coffee-bean undertones to the beautiful fruit, which shows great finesse. Full-bodied yet compact and tight, giving a sense of agility and flight to the wine. Extremely tight and polished tannins.
This is a serious 2018, structured, layered and full of Haut-Bailly signature. The texture is striking, with the silkiness emphasised by a pH of 3.87 and a relatively high alcohol that is effortlessly integrated into the body of the wine. The complexity builds slowly through the palate but the persisting feeling is of menthol, a lifting off and peeling back of the intensity, revealing the fresher more nuanced notes underneath. There's a lot of the 2015 character here, in terms of its enjoyable structure and generous fruit, but it's more like 2016 in its serious finish, and there's no question that this will age well. The IPT is 86, more than the 84 measured in the 2010, but you don't feel it in the same way here. 5% Cabernet Franc completes the blend, co-fermented with Petit Verdot because they like the balance that it gives. 21hl/ha yield. Drinking Window 2027 - 2042
This is a superb Haut-Bailly and the nose alone is worth a standing ovation. A big wine and somewhat of an anomaly for Haut-Bailly, the oak is perfectly balanced and the skin tannins are so well-judged – some of the finest in the region – that there is little astringency but massive quantities of energy and verve. The tempo of the flavour as it expands on the palate is staggering. The length is great, too, but this is not a big wine in spite of the IPT. It is simply sensational and it will live to fifty years.
Black core. Intense black fruit, less open than Haut-Bailly II, as you might expect, but just as intense in fruit. Deep, more chewy than velvety but the layers of tannin are very fine, there are just a lot of them. A more savoury quality on the palate than in the Haut-Bailly II. Packed with fruit but all coiled up on itself. Big but nothing sticks out. Clean, dry, dark-chocolate finish. Very ripe Cabernet cassis but with the freshness of the Merlot (they always pick the Cabernet late and the Merlot early). Juicy at the core. Big, harmonious and smooth. Embryonically elegant in its power and concentration. Drink 2026-2040
Stretching from the rather unglamorous southern suburbs of Bordeaux, for 50 km along the left bank of the river Garonne, lies Graves. Named for its gravelly soil, a relic of Ice Age glaciers, this is the birthplace of claret, despatched from the Middle Ages onwards from the nearby quayside to England in vast quantities. It can feel as though Bordeaux is just about red wines, but some sensational white wines are produced in this area from a blend of sauvignon blanc, Semillon and, occasionally, muscadelle grapes, often fermented and aged in barrel. In particular, Domaine de Chevalier is renowned for its superbly complex whites, which continue to develop in bottle over decades. A premium appellation, Pessac-Leognan, was created in 1987 for the most prestigious terroirs within Graves. These are soils with exceptional drainage, made up of gravel terraces built up in layers over many millennia, and consequently thrive in mediocre vintages but are less likely to perform well in hotter years. These wines were appraised and graded in their own classification system in 1953 and updated in 1959, but, like the 1855 classification system, this should be regarded with caution and the wines must absolutely be assessed on their own current merits.
