- Colour Red
- Producer Château Haut-Bailly
- Region Pessac-Léognan
- Drinking 2029 - 2055
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available En Primeur
2022 - Ch Haut Bailly Grand Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan - 6x75cl
- Colour Red
- Producer Château Haut-Bailly
- Region Pessac-Léognan
- Drinking 2029 - 2055
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available En Primeur
Need help? Call +44 (0)20 7793 7900 or email wine@goedhuiswaddesdon.com.
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Neal Martin, April 2023, Score: 96-98
The 2022 Haut-Bailly was picked between 7 and 27 September and underwent a four-week cuvaison, taking longer to consume the sugar and was matured in 50% new oak. It has a bouquet that compels you just to sit and contemplate. It gradually unfolds with blackberry, raspberry, potpourri and iris flower scents, well-defined, not showy but suave. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannins. Minerals, black pepper and clove off a gentle grip with an impressive crescendo. It will need a decade in bottle. This Haut-Bailly has a haunting beauty, the kind of wine that will bring people to tears! Drink 2033-2065
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Wine Advocate, April 2023, Score: 94-96
The 2022 Haut-Bailly offers up aromas of dark berries complemented by accents of iris, lilac, rose petals, graphite and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, dense and concentrated, dense, it's layered and textural, with a deep core of fruit, powdery tannins and a penetrating, saline finish. Vinified along traditional lines, it is a structured wine that will take some time to hit its stride, but at this early stage it appears suppler and more seamless than its 2020 and 2019 predecessors. A blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc from grapes picked from September 7 to 27, it's maturing half in new barriques and half in one- or two-year-old barrels.
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Antonio Galloni, April 2023, Score: 93-96
The 2022 Haut-Bailly is dark and quite brooding in bearing. The natural intensity of small grapes comes through in the wine’s dark fruit and firm, imposing tannins. Black cherry, gravel, cloves, cured meats, licorice, incense and charcoal embers add to an impression of virile thrust. I imagine the 2022 will take some time to come together, as the tannins are pretty forbidding at this stage. Drink 2030-2052.
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Goedhuis, April 2023, Score: 96-98
The benefits and brilliance of the new Daniel Romeo designed winery are unashamedly on show in this superbly crafted 2022. Privileged to taste with both wine director Veronique Sanders and her skilled right-hand Gabriel Vialard, they describe it as a “sunny and prophetic vintage”. The combination of warm days and cool nights in their vineyards gives a cornucopia of sensations. Blackberry, liquorice, freshly shaved lead pencil, dark olive and cassis and much more… This has great substance and depth of weight. The tannins have an impressive powdery power to them and a silky texture. The richness is balanced by the mouth-watering salinity which gives a lovely refreshing finale to this superb wine.
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James Suckling, April 2023, Score: 97-98
Incredible complexity of aromas here with ripe currants and blackberries, but also dried flowers like violets and roses. Then there’s forest flower character such as bark, mushroom and sandalwood. Black truffles. Full-bodied with tight and chewy tannins that are polished and pure, with a solid and tight finish. It builds on your palate and frames the wine beautifully. 56% cabernet sauvignon, 37% merlot, 5% petit verdot and 2% cabernet franc.
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Jancis Robinson, April 2023, Score: 17
Refined bouquet with cassis, mineral and liquorice notes to the fore. Velvety texture, the plentiful tannins rounded and smooth. Rich and moelleux on the mid palate. Crunchy tannins on the finish that lend a little freshness. Warm. A mix of gourmandise and power. (James Lawther MW) 14.5% Drink 2030 – 2042
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Jeb Dunnuck, April 2023, Score: 98-100
The 2022 Château Haut-Bailly is going to be one of the legendary vintages at this château, and it should be a no-brainer purchase for readers. Based on 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, it has an incredible perfume of cassis, ripe black cherries, crushed stone, smoke tobacco, and wood smoke. Earning more than a few expletives in my notes, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a deep, layered, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, and ultra-fine, silky tannins. Hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen, this is an incredible wine in the making!
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Matthew Jukes, April 2023, Score: 19.5
Véronique Sanders explained that despite the heatwaves, there was no blockage in the vines, and while the leaves occasionally looked a little droopy in the late afternoon, they were perky again in the morning. There were no yellow leaves in the vineyard, and yet in the forests surrounding this estate, the leaves on the trees were already turning brown. At the end of the harvest, and looking back on the conditions, the decent rainfall in June profoundly helped the vintage. From the 3rd of July until the 16th of August, there was no rain at Haut-Bailly. On the 16th of August, 16mm fell, and this kicked off ripening. By contrast to the most recent very hot vintage, 2003, at least the nights were cool in 2022, which is the reason for the tension in the wines. In 2003, the vines suffered blockage, shutting down because night-time temperatures were 27C. They have two huge cold rooms at the new Haut Bailly winery, so the grapes were in perfect condition after harvest, and the extraction of colour, flavour and tannins was extremely gentle with no punching down needed. There is an incredible fruit character here that is all-encompassing and beautifully complete. The nose is ripe but not as bounding and joyful as one discovers on Haut Bailly II. By contrast, the controlled opulence and measured delivery of the flavours mesmerises the palate. Every grape plays its part in stunning harmony, and the precise blend of each critical element makes this wine so triumphant. The silica-fine-tannins are also sensational, scattered liberally throughout the palate, bringing ravishing texture to the whole. The depth of flavour is too great to comprehend in just one sip, and multiple visits record different nuances and more complex florals and orientals every time. This is as exotic and nuanced as any wine in 2022, and while it is darker and more brooding than HBII, it is an extraordinary wine, and it has set a new apogee of excellence for Haut-Bailly.
Producer
Château Haut-Bailly
Rich in sandstone composed of fossilised shellfish ("faluns"), Haut Bailly has one of the mostnoteworthy terroirs in Pessac Léognan. As a direct result of this ancient soil, their wines areextremely elegant and pure. Though not enormously high profile, this château is one of the mostappreciated by critics and collectors alike.
Region
Pessac-Léognan
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.
