Chateau Haut-Bailly Pessac-Leognan Cru Classe 2022 i trækasse

Alexandre Ma

We all understand that top chefs preheat their pans to ensure precise control over the heat. If the Château Haut-Bailly 2021 was akin to this preheating, then the 2022 vintage is undoubtedly a banquet they've served up for us! In the face of such a profoundly moving wine, any tasting notes seem redundant. You can discern everything it aims to convey: its restraint, its nobility, its pursuit of perfection, and its nonchalant grace, all encapsulated within a piece of green ink. With it, you can write the most poignant poetry; with it, you can sketch the most breathtaking landscapes. This generous gift from Château Haut-Bailly will only grow richer with time, safeguarding 'the quintessential Bordeaux taste', wherever and whenever.

Bettane & Desseauve

Matthew Jukes

Jeb Dunnuck

The 2022 Château Haut-Bailly is going to be one of the legendary vintages at this château, and it should be a no-brainer purchase for readers. Based on 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, it has an incredible perfume of cassis, ripe black cherries, crushed stone, smoke tobacco, and wood smoke. Earning more than a few expletives in my notes, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a deep, layered, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, and ultra-fine, silky tannins. Hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen, this is an incredible wine in the making!

The Wine Cellar Insider - Jeff Leve

Initially, you find a display of flowers before moving on to all of its cigar wrapper, spice, blackberry, currant, black cherry, smoke, and hints of forest leaf in the perfume. Deeply concentrated, vibrant, and refined, the palate is packed with multiple-layers of perfectly, ripe, red fruits, a fabulous sense of purity, silky, soft, polished tannins, and ample lift in the finish, providing the backdrop to age, and evolve for decades. The wine blends 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Petit Verdot. This is in serious contention as the best vintage ever produced at Haut Bailly. Drink from 2027-2060.

Terre de Vins

James Suckling

Incredible complexity of aromas here with ripe currants and blackberries, but also dried flowers like violets and roses. Then there’s forest flower character such as bark, mushroom and sandalwood. Black truffles. Full-bodied with tight and chewy tannins that are polished and pure, with a solid and tight finish. It builds on your palate and frames the wine beautifully. 56% cabernet sauvignon, 37% merlot, 5% petit verdot and 2% cabernet franc.

Bettane et Desseauve

The Wine Independent

A blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc, the 2022 Haut-Bailly is deep garnet-purple in color. It needs a fair bit of swirling to bring out fragrant notes of kirsch, warm cassis, black raspberries, and underbrush, followed by hints of star anise, peonies, graphite, and wood smoke. The full-bodied palate is densely laden with ripe, expressive black fruit and earthy accents, framed by firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and minerally.

Andrew Caillard MW

Deep colour. Intense cassis graphite, aromas with dark chocolate espresso notes. Richly concentrated blackcurrant/ cassis, cedar, praline flavours, persistent fresh juicy acidity, lovely density and fresh al-dente tannins. Finishes crunchy with chocolaty notes. Animated and concenated with all the elements in balance. 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot 2% Cabernet Franc

Wine Maniacs

Decanter

Fragranced nose, purple fruits, blackcurrants, juniper, liquorice, crushed stones, salt, violets, roses, dark chocolate and cherries - perfumed, alive and expressive. Smooth, but generous with crunchy fruit and salty touches that come in and coat the super fine tannins with a powdery sensation that really fills the mouth. Nice terroir aspects, smooth, well textured and elegantly weighted. Gives dark fruit, subtle savoury tones with dark chocolate and herbal aspects giving nuance. Excellent length and freshness, it's graceful but almost a bit light in terms of fruit density and plushness - although the tannins are exceptional, really so sleek and silky with definition and detail. Feels well worked, gentle, confident and shiny. It's missing a touch more excitement and juicy liveliness but it’s extremely finessed and you can't fault the attention to detail of the tannins and the moreish quality they give. Great potential. 2% Cabernet Franc completes the blend. Consultants Christophe Olivier and Axel Marchal.

Robert Parker

The 2022 Haut-Bailly offers up aromas of dark berries complemented by accents of iris, lilac, rose petals, graphite and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, dense and concentrated, dense, it's layered and textural, with a deep core of fruit, powdery tannins and a penetrating, saline finish. Vinified along traditional lines, it is a structured wine that will take some time to hit its stride, but at this early stage it appears suppler and more seamless than its 2020 and 2019 predecessors. A blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, it's maturing half in new barriques and half in one- or two-year-old barrels.

Antonio Galloni

The 2022 Haut-Bailly is dark and quite brooding in bearing. The natural intensity of small grapes comes through in the wine’s dark fruit and firm, imposing tannins. Black cherry, gravel, cloves, cured meats, licorice, incense and charcoal embers add to an impression of virile thrust. I imagine the 2022 will take some time to come together, as the tannins are pretty forbidding at this stage. Drinking window : 2030-2052