Chateau Haut Bailly 2015

JEB DUNNUCK: "The 2015 Haut Bailly checks in as a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot that comes from the gravelly soils of the Graves region, just southeast of Bordeaux. It’s an incredibly beautiful, classy 2015 that offers a sexy bouquet of crème de cassis, lead pencil shavings, tobacco leaf, and exotic spices. Deep, full-bodied, and voluptuously textured, with ultra-fine tannin and building richness that never takes away from its incredible elegance and purity, it’s another heavenly 2015 that’s going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and just sing for 2-3 decades. Hats off to winemaker Véronique Sanders – this might end up rivaling the out of this world 2009."

JAMES SUCKLING: "This is an incredible young red with precision and focus that is second to almost none. Full body with a ultra-fine tannin drive that is seamless as it is endless. It ends with such power. Try in 2024 but already impressive to taste."

DECANTER: "The aromatic complexity of this wine strikes you from the very first moment - this has got to be one of the greatest Haut Baillys I have ever tasted. The 2015 has a touch of Petit Verdot for the first time (not including the mixed fruit from the century-old grapevines that Haut Bailly always uses), from three year old vines. This has a balance and grip that lifts from underneath the fruit, with incredibly precise tannins. Slate, pencil lead and curls of tobacco lead the persistent waves of flavour coming at you, expressing a lightness than deceives you until you feel the layers begin to deftly build up over the course of the tasting. This is utterly delicious, showing all the complexity that you expect from a great wine, together with the supreme confidence that they don't need to trick you with a push of oak (they use 50% new barrels)."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "There is so much to like here starting with the vibrancy in the fruit, the length, purity and its array of notes in the perfume. Perfectly balanced, with layer after layer of sweet, ripe, silky juice, this is a stunner. However, this beauty demands cellaring. Give it until the wine hits 15 years of age and enjoy it for decades."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "Composed of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot, the deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Haut-Bailly offers up a tantalizingly savory nose of smoked meats, chargrill, tapenade, unsmoked cigars and black truffles with a core of black currants, black cherries and wild blueberries plus wafts of iron ore and bouquet garni. Medium to full-bodied, very firm and yet wonderfully plush with a powerful core of fruit—this vintage is truly an iron fist in a velvet glove. The finish goes on and on with persistent earthy/minerally notes and savory/sweet fruit. Although it is tempting and indeed delicious right now, the wine still possesses many restrained layers and should handsomely reward the patient."

WEINWISSER: "60 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 36 % Merlot, 4 % Petit Verdot. Sattes Purpur-Granat, lila Schimmer aussen. Florales, tiefwürziges Bouquet mit schwarzen Pfefferkörnern, Brombeeren und dahinter schwingt etwas Frisches in Form von Fliedernuancen mit. Im zweiten Ansatz Edelhölzer in verschwenderischer Form und dann greift er definitiv in die Tiefe mit Trüffel, Rauch und Teernoten. Grossartiger Gaumen mit einer perfekten Adstringenz, blau bis schwarzbeerig, aber auch in sich verlangend und trocken, also mit sehr klassischen Anlagen. Kein Frühzünder und somit ein barocker Haut-Bailly der alten Schule mit dem heutigen Knowhow. Beim Zweitwein La Parde merkt man deutlich, dass eine gnadenlose Separation gemacht wurde. Wer nicht warten kann, sollte die Finger davon lassen."

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "Barrel Sample. This wine is finely balanced with its ripe, dusty tannins contrasted by bold blackberry fruits. This is an impressive wine that has great structure, showing the quality of the Cabernet in the vintage. "

WINE SPECTATOR: "Fresh and pure, with cassis and cherry preserve notes streaming through, guided gently by singed vanilla, tobacco and dried star anise details. Roasted apple wood accents drape the finish for now, but the fruit should soak that up easily with cellaring. Shows some sneaky depth here, only obscured by the freshness. Better to wait this one out. Best from 2020 through 2040. 6,665 cases made. — JM"

FALSTAFF: "Dunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung, feine dunkle Beerenfrucht, würzig, ein Hauch von Cassis und Brombeeren, einladendes Bukett. Stoffig, sehr gut strukturiert, elegante Textur, sehr guter aromatischer Tiefgang, mineralisch und anhaltend, feine Extraktsüße, sicheres Reifepotenzial."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Mid crimson. Delicately leafy dark fruit, immediate impression of elegance and purity. Scented on the palate too. Harmonious and refined, with everything in place for a long life and already finely balanced between the restrained dark fruit, the super-fine tannins and a long fresh finish."