Wine of the Week 2005 Chateau Haut Bailly Pessac Leognan
I have friends that get together for impromptu dinners. In the song that immortalized Los Angeles, “I Love LA! ,” something Randy Newman left out in his praise of our city, is the ease in which collectors can bring wine to restaurants, and pay a reasonable corkage fee, permitting them to share wines from their cellar. Together with my friends, you never know what wine is going to appear. There are times when old bottles, from early vintages are brought out. And there are nights when bottles purchased are opened, to determine how they might develop. It’s also common to check in on a bottle from a case that’s been resting, patiently waiting to popped, to determine how it’s coming along.
2005 Chateau Haut-Bailly is stubbornly grasping tightly to its childhood, just like we do, as we age. There is no denying this is a beauty. Luscious, fresh, sweet and in balance, 2 hours of air brought out the smoky blackberries, wet spice, earth and cigar box aromatics. Full bodied, concentrated deep and demanding to show its best, this is the first of the great Haut Bailly wines. 95 points
For selfish reasons, I was happy to find this bottle on the table, since I purchased some as a future, back in 2006. Being curious about how the wine was developing, I was ready to see what the wine was like. I wasn’t disappointed.
It is not a fun wine to drink young, particularly in the age worthy vintages. The wine is meant enabling it to develop complexities nuances and silky textures. The wait is more than worth it, in case you’ve got the patience.
Chateau Haut Bailly was on a non stop quality train ride because the estate was purchased by Robert Wilmers in 1998. It took only a few short before things. For my palate, that took place starting with the 2005 Chateau Haut Bailly. If you start to count the terrific wines produced from that point, you are going to quickly run out of fingers!
2005 Chateau Haut BaillyPessac Leognan is the Wine of the Week!
Source: Wine
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