The actual product may vary from the images shown on the website.
Raudonasis sausas
On the eve of the 2001 harvest, the potential of the grapes showed seemed better than for the 2000: the berries were small and powerfully concentrated which led us to expect a remarkable vintage.
The grapes were in a healthy state with thick skins and picking was carried out with infinite precaution: all the bunches were turned over and checked before being laid out on the sorting table where a group of young women discarded any blemished grapes which might have managed to get through. The wines appear to be exceptionally good: the Merlots were rich in colour, fruit and tannin. The Cabernets gave the impression of consistency, elegance and richness. This is a long-term vintage wich should show character, vivacity and lustre.
Serve at 16-18 °C with beef, veal, game, poultry.
Some might prefer this to the excellent 2000. It’s just as dense and rich but perhaps doesn’t have the same intensity and complexity as the 2000. But a clearly outstanding wine. Full body with plenty of dark fruits, chocolate and hints of earth. Drink or hold.
Château Haut-Bailly is a historic wine estate located in Pessac-Léognan on the left bank of the Gironde. Half a century ago, the Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant wine frequently commanded the same prices as the first growth wines and, in the 1959 Graves Classification, the château was given Grand Cru Classé status. Its wines remain well-regarded and often critically well received. The estate boasts 30 hectares (74 acres) of vineyard on a high, sandy ridge with lots of sandstone and fossils. Cabernet Sauvignon makes up the majority of the vineyards covering 60 percent of the total area, but Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are also planted here. Traditionally, these were interplanted, and a four-hectare (10-acre) plot is maintained in this way. Following fermentation, the Château Haut-Bailly grand vin is aged in cask for 16 to 18 months, with the proportion of new oak depending on the vintage. As well as the top wine, the château makes a second wine, La Parde de Haut-Bailly, and a rosé. Unusually, perhaps, for a Pessac-Léognan estate, no white wines are produced. The foundations of the vineyard date back to the 16th Century when the estate was under the proprietorship of the Goyaneche and Daitze families. It was then sold to the Bailly and Lauvarde families in 1630, who invested in the building of a manor house as well as the cultivation of the land surrounding the estate. Before his death in 1655, Bailly gave his name to the wines that were produced at the château. The château is now owned by American banker Robert Wilmers although for many critics and aficionados the face of the estate is managing director, Veronique Sanders. An extensive redevelopment program of the château buildings and winery was begun in 2020. Production averages 80,000 bottles annually.
