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Château Haut-Bailly 1996

This week I plunge once more into the darkest corner of my cellar to pull out one of a number of forsaken and forgotten bottles, some of which have not felt the tender touch of human hand for a decade or two. The intention is to revisit old vintages that I have not looked at for far too long, a habit (not a bad one I hope, but only you can be the judge of that) which I began when I revisited the 1989 Château Chasse-Spleen, pulled from a similarly dark recess a month or two ago. Sixteen years had elapsed between those two bottles, while a mere 13 years have passed since I last turned the spotlight towards the 1996 Haut-Bailly.

One significant difference between Chasse-Spleen and Haut-Bailly is that while I have tasted the former wine in all recent vintages, it is a long time since I visited the property, and that was just the once, many years ago. By comparison I have been a regular visitor to Haut-Bailly over the past ten or twenty years, and I have published numerous reports on tastings of past vintages, not least a tasting of 25 vintages of Haut-Bailly just last year, and a detailed Haut-Bailly retrospective back in 2013. Having said that these reports do not look back further than 1998, the year in which the late Robert Wilmers (1934 – 2017) acquired the property, marking the beginning of the modern era for the estate. And so, as neither mentions the 1996 vintage, perhaps it is time to take a fresh look at a bottle from my own cellar.

Château Haut-Bailly, a property with a dedicated following, is undoubtedly one of the most well-known and widely appreciated estates in Pessac-Léognan. Its origin can be traced back to at least the 16th century, when the land was planted up by wealthy merchants from the Pays Basque region. It was subsequent to this that the land and vines came into the possession of a banker named Firmin Le Bailly, who gave his name to the property. Following his tenure it passed through the hands of several others, including Thomas Barton (1695 – 1780), a name best associated with Léoville-Barton and Langoa-Barton. His tenure was short though; the most significant historical owner was Alcide Bellot des Minières (1828 – 1906); it was he who restructured the vineyards and built the château, setting the estate on course for its modern-day stardom.

Château Haut-Bailly 1996

Sadly, as was often the case in Bordeaux, this course was not a smooth one, as the trials of the 20th century would temper any success that was due, and it was only when Daniel Sanders acquired the property midway through the century that things began looking up. After Daniel passed on his son Jean Sanders took over the running of the property, but two sisters also inherited a share, and it was when they sold their slice of the cake that Robert Wilmers stepped in to take control. Jean stayed on though, followed by his own daughter Véronique Sanders, who continues to run the property today. The Wilmers family have always remained largely in the background, but they been good to Haut-Bailly, not least funding the construction of remarkable new cellars in time for the 2021 vintage.

The investment and efforts which have been poured into Haut-Bailly have, in recent years, resulted in some of the best wines I have ever tasted from this property. Looking back at prior encounters with the wines of this estate I have drunk a number of older vintages, almost all pulled from my own cellar, including 1985, 1983 and 1981, and while all have been delightful I think they will all be surpassed by the likes of 2005, 2010, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2022. Perhaps tellingly, really older vintages have been hard to come by; a 1975 tasted at the property with winemaker Gabriel Vialard more than a few years ago equipped itself well, but its time was nigh, and I felt it was best drunk up sooner rather than later. I have one older vintage tucked away in the cellar for a future occasion, but I don’t think I will reveal which it is today.

Instead, let us concentrate on the 1996 vintage, which has long been a favourite of mine in Bordeaux, as it was particularly strong on the left bank, by which I mean up on the Médoc peninsula, where Cabernet Sauvignon excelled, producing some truly great wines in St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux. I think it is common in the wine world to assume that the Graves and Pessac-Léognan appellations simply fall in behind these other ‘left bank’ names in such a vintage, but in my experience this is not necessarily true, and 1996 is a case in point. The terroir in Pessac-Léognan is different, the climate too, and there is a much greater role for Merlot in many of the grands vins; for this reason the quality in Pessac-Léognan often mirrors that on the right bank more than the left. Thus in 1996 I find the wines here to be very good, but they are not the gold standard wines we see on the Médoc.

As an aside, you can also see this in 1998, when the Médoc did not produce such great wines, but those from Pessac-Léognan, St Emilion and Pomerol were all superb.

Anyway, I digress, so back to 1996. In the glass the 1996 Château Haut-Bailly displays a fine maturing hue, with plenty of firm pigment at its heart, but a more leathery rim. The aromatic profile is just a delight, with a delicious sense of evolution, the nose filled with the scents of bloody minerals, sous bois, humus, bay leaf and dried juniper berries, with a little touch of green peppercorn giving it freshness and lift. It feels absolute classic for the style of the 1996 vintage, and this impression is reinforced by the palate which melds these aromatics together in a tense and tautly grained substance, with a dry core of finely honed and lightly powdery tannins. Taut and polished, this feels classically evolved, and it concludes with a lightly drying and savoury finish. This is a top example of mature Pessac-Léognan, one that is good for drinking now, but it has a good decade (and more) in it yet. 95/100 (28/10/24)

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