2000 | Château Haut-Bailly | Pessac-Leognan

The palate is medium-bodied with a very well balanced opening. Hints of clove and black pepper infuse the black fruit, and it exerts a gentle grip in the mouth with quite a persistent finish.

Reviews:

• Decanter: A gorgeous wine that is still flexing its muscles, showing controlled brilliance, barely putting a step out of line. The tannins are perfectly integrated but full of life, and the fruit is savoury with autumnal berries of blackberry and bilberry, set against grilled cedar, cool ash and careful flicks of black pepper spice. The overall character remains concentrated, barely a hint of tertiary flavours, still well bedded down with a long life ahead of it. A stretched-out harvest from September 13 to October 11, giving plenty of time to pick at full ripeness.

• Jeb Dunnuck: The 2000 Château Haut-Bailly is a clear step up over the 1998 and 1999, offering medium to full-bodied richness as well as wonderful purity in its darker currants, tobacco, chocolate, and graphite-like aromas and flavors. It’s concentrated and powerful, yet most of the baby fat has fallen away, and this is a classic Haut-Bailly (despite being a more Merlot-shifted blend) that has ripe, polished tannins, a seamless mouthfeel, and a great finish.

Producer Information

Château Haut-Bailly is a historic wine estate located in Pessac-Léognan on the left bank of the Gironde. Half a century ago, the Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant wine frequently commanded the same prices as the first growth wines and, in the 1959 Graves Classification, the château was given Grand Cru Classé status. Its wines remain well-regarded and often critically well received. The estate boasts 30 hectares (74 acres) of vineyard on a high, sandy ridge with lots of sandstone and fossils. Cabernet Sauvignon makes up the majority of the vineyards covering 60 percent of the total area, but Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are also planted here. Traditionally, these were interplanted, and a four-hectare (10-acre) plot is maintained in this way. Following fermentation, the Château Haut-Bailly grand vin is aged in cask for 16 to 18 months, with the proportion of new oak depending on the vintage. As well as the top wine, the château makes a second wine, La Parde de Haut-Bailly, and a rosé. Unusually, perhaps, for a Pessac-Léognan estate, no white wines are produced. The foundations of the vineyard date back to the 16th Century when the estate was under the proprietorship of the Goyaneche and Daitze families. It was then sold to the Bailly and Lauvarde families in 1630, who invested in the building of a manor house as well as the cultivation of the land surrounding the estate. Before his death in 1655, Bailly gave his name to the wines that were produced at the château. The château is now owned by American banker Robert Wilmers although for many critics and aficionados the face of the estate is managing director, Veronique Sanders. An extensive redevelopment program of the château buildings and winery was begun in 2020. Production averages 80,000 bottles annually.

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