Grand Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan

Perfect with roast beef.

Winter was wet and mild. The vines awoke to the new growing season mid-March and developed quickly thanks to a beautiful month of April. The abrupt arrival of cool weather in late May slowed the early vintage. Flowering took place under good conditions for the Cabernets, but Merlots were affected by coulure and millerandage. Growth continued, but at a slower rhythm in July and August. The vineyard team worked hard to keep the vines clean and healthy, allowing them to channel their vigour into the fruit. The berries grew in size, but ripened very slowly. Fortunately, after the vegetative growth halted at the end of August, true summer weather arrived in September (the warmest since 1921 and 1961) and saved the vintage. The grapes decreased in size, became more concentrated, and still had a full month to ripen. The harvest began, in no great rush, on the morning of September 24th. The « grands Merlots », the organic plots, and the wonderful gravelly hilltop, home to our old vines were picked starting on the 30th. Perfect weather – dry and radiant – meant that the harvest could take place over a 22-day period (with 12 days of picking).

The vineyard of Haut-Bailly as we know it today began to take shape when the Goyanèche 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 Château Haut-Bailly at a time when French ‘claret' was beginning its rise to stardom in England and Ireland.