Château Haut Bailly, Cru Classé, Pessac Léognan, 2023
The third vintage to be made in the smart new winery, and one really feels the benefits. The new facility gives the team much more control over vinifications, which results in greater precision in the wine. This is noticeable aromatically, through better delineation of flavours on the mid-palate and even more civilised tannins. Not that there was anything wrong with the old Haut Bailly, but this has just elevated the whole package and secures its position as one of the elite wines in Pessac Leognan. Beautiful aromas of pencil shavings, violets and creme de mûre. There's a wonderful purity and freshness to the fruit - crisp and clear and very clear eyed, mixed with a pleasing mineral character. The tannins are long and penetrating, laced with pure hedgerow fruits and attractive saline notes. A pretty and serious Haut Bailly produced from 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot.
critic reviews
The 2023 Haut-Bailly has a very defined bouquet that is typical Haut-Bailly, with black plum, incense, hints of licorice and light marine scents that are very well defined. The oak is also very well integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with finely sculpted tannins. Very well balanced with a sense of linearity and strictness, but there is also plenty of black fruit packed into this Haut-Bailly, with a sapid finish that beckons you back for another sip. Excellent.
A blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot, the 2023 Haut-Bailly has a pH of 3.75. It is deep garnet-purple in color and it waltzes out with showy scents of boysenberry preserves, stewed plums, and fruit cake, followed by underlying suggestions of Indian spices, menthol, graphite, and lavender, with a hint of cardamom. The full-bodied palate is rich and seductively plush, with layers of black fruits and exotic spices, plus mint and floral sparks, finishing long and fragrant. It is so graceful and opulent!
Inky plum colour, this is just so effortless, incredible savoury and moreish, salted cracker and cocoa bean, fine plentiful tannins, with plenty of hidden depths. Feels like a wine that you know you will be thrilled to be drinking in years to come. High floral aromatics unwind as you sit with the glass, showing purity of rose bud and liquorice, chalky tannins that are supple with finesse and grain. 50% new oak. Harvest September 11 to 29.
A blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon (harvested from the 20th to the 29th of September), 34% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot, the 2023 Haut-Bailly offers up aromas of mulberries, cassis, dark wild berries, pencil lead, licorice and spices, followed by a medium to full-bodied, concentrated and rich palate that is both layered and seamless, its deep mid-palate animated by lively acids, concluding with long, mineral, penetrating finish. Although it displays a darker, more brooding profile character than in previous years, it remains highly representative of its terroir and will benefit from some patience. It's being matured in 50% new oak.