2024 Haut Bailly
Buying options
Tasting notes
Haut-Bailly feels more pared back than in recent years, in keeping with the style of the vintage. The 2024 has a nose full of cedar, vanilla and pencil lead, while the palate is elegant, refined and fresh. Despite the challenges of the vintage, the estate has managed to keep its signature. They opted for 50% new oak (down from 55% last year) to retain the delicate fruit aromas. The sleek tannins lead nicely to a long and linear finish. Blend: 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc
Critic scores
Average Score
Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
(Pessac-Léognan; 58% Cabernet Sauvignon; 40% Merlot; 2% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 30 hl/ha; pH 3.65; aged in 50% new oak; 13% alcohol; around half of the total production; tasted with Veronique Sanders at the property). There were no problems of coulure and millerandage here. Sandalwood, graphite, a hint of cedar, plump and plush dark berry and damson fruit. A little pink and green peppercorn. Subtle wild floral notes – small spring flowers. Sage and sprigs of thyme. So soft and gentle on the entry, hyper-layered a little like Don Giovanni’s list of conquests – each time you get to the bottom you find another line, another layer! Super refined, ultra-elegant and transcendent of the challenges we associate with the vintage. A very subtle note of red liquorice. So fine and gentle, so lithe and poised. A very great success. A lovely evolution in the glass too as the cedar starts to emerge. It’s actually very classical.
The Grand Vin 2024 Château Haut-Bailly is a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc that will spend 18 months in 50% new oak. It's an incredibly elegant, seamless Haut-Bailly, offering perfumed red and black fruits, spring flowers, spice, and loamy earth. These carry to a medium-bodied Pessac-Léognan with a layered, pure mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. As always, it's not the biggest or richest wine in the vintage, but it shines for its finesse and elegance.
Savoury, precise and poised, with lovely texture, softly spoken with high floral aromatics, rose petals, peony, fine tannins, drawn out character, long slow build of tension through the palate, unrolling to show white truffle and mint leaf. Tannic grip, estate signature, more softly spoken than in recent vintages, but Haut-Bailly has proved over and over again that it is capable of delivering over the long term, and that it delivers excellence even in challenging vintages - an upscore potential in bottle. Harvest 18 September to 4 October, 30hl/h yield. Gabriel Vialard technical director.
About the producer
Quality at this château, now one of Pessac-Léognan’s leading wine estates, has risen exponentially under the reign of Véronique Sanders, with the property known for crafting wines of elegance and poise.