TN: 2006 Château Haut-Bailly (France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan)

[JimHow]

• 2006 Château Haut-Bailly - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (6/26/2009)
  Deep purple. Nice nose with subtle wood. I am still waiting for my Haut-Bailly epiphany. This is hardly classic Graves. Parker calling it "first-growth-quality" is going a bit overboard. I would not be able to identify this as Graves at all in a blind tasting. I'm not even going to venture into the discussion of whether this is "modern" or not. This is better than the tannic, jaw-numbing 2004 Haut-Bailly I had last year. I might be willing to agree with Parker that, despite its intensity, it is indeed "light on its feet." In the end it is a beautiful wine, but hardly a 95-point level effort, as Parker opines. It lacks the extra sweetness and charm necessary to bring it to that level. And again, not real Graves-like, in my opinion. Unquestionably well-crafted, though. (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[DavidG]

Ah, but will it be Graves in 10 years?

[SteveH]

Make it 20, David. Jim, don't hold your breath waiting for a 2006 Haut Bailly, "Epiphany." The wine takes forever to drink well because the vines are ancient and they always employed no filtration in the winemaking process. I doubt that they care about offering popular, modern or pleasing young wines. The 1961 H.B. was my Graves Epiphany and this did not occur until the late 1980s. If you can find a well stored older bottle somewhere - buy it. Avoid the 1970s, but the sixties and fifties could be fantastic. This is classic English style claret.

[JimHow]

Yes but now it is owned by new American ownership. I suspect they are chasing Parker points.

[SteveH]

Most likely. How else could they have stayed in business?

[Comte Flaneur]

I have been sniffing this estate for the last couple of years...the 2004 is going through a very difficult stage...it is soooo backward, while the 1998 (which RMP rated 87, then bumped it up to 93) is still a child. In 2006 this was my favourite wine with Pavie Macquin at a London trade tasting...but it needs eons...I thought it was an outstanding long term wine, not ostensibly chasing Parker points.

[DavidG]

It remains to be seen whether "modern" or "Parkerized" wines show typicity once they get to 10-20 years of age. It's a big bet to place on cellaring these wines.

I don't think there is an American exclusivity to chasing Parker points. This behaviour is global/international.

[Houndsong]

Interesting. I thought the 2002 Haut Bailly had a very soft, ethereal quality, in absolute terms as well as in the context of that perceived-to-be hard, tannic vintage.

[JimHow]

I thought the same thing about the '02, Hound, but the '04 was really hard and tannic. I haven't had the '05. I liked the '06, in fact will probably buy some more, I just don't see it as a 95-pointer.

[Winesense]

I also bought the 2002 and still like it. It seems the 2002 was different. I talked to a lady from the H.B. team on a tasting and she said the 02 was straight versus subtle, refined as they normally do it.
I wonder about the 06, very fine but there does not seem to be much going on. After a while I noticed subtle notes but was not sure if I imagined or the were real.
Could be that it is a great wine one day, possible so. No guarantee.