2000 - Haut-Bailly, Pessac-Leognan

The ruby colour retains a vibrant core, aromatics flirting with tertiary, softened raspberry and brambled blackberry fruits, campfire and grilled cedar smoke, this is balanced and effortless while building in concentration through the glass, layering up with pulses of black pepper, rosemary, oyster shell, pomegranate and mandarin. The 2000 vintage took its time but it is now seriously in its stride. Harvest September 13 to October 11. Denis Dubourdieu consultant, Véronique Sanders director and CEO as of this vintage. 50% new oak.

It has been a little while since I last tasted the 2000 Haut Bailly. Now at 17 years of age it does not quite deliver the authority and the pedigree of the 2005 or 2010, moving into secondary notes with cedar wood, smoke and a touch of undergrowth, though it has lost a little cohesion. The palate is medium-bodied with a very well balanced opening. Hints of clove and black pepper infuse the black fruit, and it exerts a gentle grip in the mouth with quite a persistent finish. You can broach this now although it should continue to drink well for another 15-20 years. Tasted March 2017.

(roughly a 50/50 blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon) Good bright ruby-red. Deep, smoky aromas of plum syrup, raspberry, tobacco, iron and roasted nuts. Lush, silky and sweet, with insidious vinosity keeping the lush plum and tobacco flavors fresh and delineated. The suave merlot tannins spread out to cover the entire palate. Much more a merlot-dominated wine than the 2001, which is 65% cabernet sauvignon.

50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 50% Merlot.Deep colour but mature with a brick edge. Ripe and quite intense. Even a little brooding. Dark fruits with a streak of graphite. Palate quite racy with Graves minerality and freshness. Still flexing some muscle with a grainy quality to the tannins. Clean, dry, mouth-cleansing finish. (JL)