2008 Chateau Haut-Bailly Pessac-Leognan

2008 Chateau Haut-Bailly Pessac-Leognan

2008 Chateau Haut-Bailly Pessac-Leognan

The 2008 harvest will remain in the history books as one of the longest and latest of the decade: 10 days of grape picking spread out over 5 weeks! The harvest began on September 25 for the youngest merlots, while the last cabernet sauvignons were brought in from October 17 to 23, in perfect health.

Low yields and a late year are a strong indication of excellent quality. The 2008 vintage is rich in color, has great vivacity, structure and balance, with velvety tannins that are seductive and powerful: both striking and soft!

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate (96/100)
A candidate for the -wine of the vintage,- the 2008 Haut-Bailly possesses incredible complexity. Tell-tale notes of lead pencil shavings, charcoal, damp earth, black cherries and black currants intermixed with a hint of subtle barbecue smoke are present in this classic, quintessential Graves. Medium-bodied with an emerging, precocious complexity, it is a super-pure, beautifully textured, long wine that can be drunk now or cellared for 20-25 years. Bravo!

Jeb Dunnuck (96/100)
A seamless, elegant wine (which is the hallmark of this estate), the 2008 Haut Bailly offers a beautiful perfume of tobacco leaf, currants, graphite, and hints of smoked earth. It’s medium-bodied, concentrated, with terrific purity of fruit and fine tannin, and can be drunk anytime over the coming two decades.

The vineyard of Haut-Bailly as we know it today began to take shape when the Goyaneche and then the Daitze family acquired and unified the best vine growing plots in the 1530s. The estate remained in the Daitze Family until 1630 when it was purchased by Firmin Le Bailly and Nicolas de Leuvarde, wealthy Parisian bankers and lovers of Graves wines.

Following substantial investments, the property continued to be passed down the Bailly family line until 1736, when Irishman Thomas Barton took the helm. His strong business network allowed him to spread word about the quality of Chateau Haut-Bailly at a time when French ‘claret’ was beginning its rise to stardom in England and Ireland.

Throughout the 18th century powerful, well-connected and ambitious owners drove Haut-Bailly to new heights, including Christophe Lafaurie de Monbadon and his son Laurent who went on to become Mayor of Bordeaux in 1805.