La Parde de Haut-Bailly 2009

A second wine from Bordeaux’s Haut-Bailly, based in Pessac-Leognan — via Private Cellar

• La Parde de Haut-Bailly 2009

An email from East Anglian wine merchant Private Cellar popped up in my in-box at just the right time and before I knew it, I’d bought a case of mature Bordeaux.

The wine is a 2009 Parde de Haut-Bailly. From an excellent, if warm, year in Bordeaux, this is the second wine of Chateau Haut-Bailly, one of the Great Chateaux today, despite a history as something of an also-ran due to poor vineyard management.

The Chateau labels itself as Grand Cru Classé — and to point out that it acquired this status in the 1953 classification for Graves, rather than in the rather more-famous 1855 classification, feels slightly churlish.

The Pessac-Leognan sub-region was created only in 1986, as a sort-of high-end breakaway from the more generic Graves sub-region. It lies just to the south of the city of Bordeaux on the best soils in the area.

The wine is beautifully presented and the unboxing process reveals all the cues of a high-end product:

*BBR says:*

In 1986 a new communal district was created within Graves, in Bordeaux, based on the districts of Pessac and Léognan, the first of which lies within the suburbs of the city. Essentially this came about through pressure from Pessac-Léognan vignerons, who wished to disassociate themselves from growers with predominately sandy soils further south in Graves. Pessac-Léognan has the best soils of the region, very similar to those of the Médoc, although the depth of gravel is more variable, and contains all the classed growths of the region. Some of its great names, including Ch. Haut-Brion, even sit serenely and resolutely in Bordeaux’s southern urban sprawl.

The climate is milder than to the north of the city and the harvest can occur up to two weeks earlier. This gives the best wines a heady, rich and almost savoury character, laced with notes of tobacco, spice and leather. Further south, the soil is sandier with more clay, and the wines are lighter, fruity and suitable for earlier drinking.

*Bordeaux.com says:*

The soils of Pessac-Léognan are like caviar for grapevines. The appellation is blessed with an abundance of “grabas de Bourdeus”, better known as the famous Bordeaux gravel: a geological cocktail containing pebbles from the river, fine gravel, flint, sand, clay and limestone.

These ancient river deposits form undulating outcrops which, combined with the irrigation network provided by the various streams flowing into the Garonne, guarantee perfect natural drainage for the vineyards. And the cherry on the winemaking cake: an idyllic micro-climate. The presence of Bordeaux just to the north means that temperatures remain mild, while the Garonne River to the east helps to stave off frost, and the Landes Forest to the west provides shelter from the winter winds.

La Parde de Haut-Bailly 2009, (£40, Private Cellar)

13.5%

44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc

translucent ruby garnet, with some bricking and paleness to the rim; ripe bramble fruits and cherries, complex oaky spice, dried sage, mushrooms, sous bois and old leather; fresh and plush with dried raspberries, red cherries, cranberry pastilles, sun-dried tomato and red plum; spice; and cool mint savoury and harmonious with very fine, well-integrated tannins.

Very Good.

Drinks nicely on first opening, opens up with some aeration. At a peak now and needs no further ageing.

Match with sockeye salmon, griddled bavette or roast joint of venison.

Others say:

**Wine Spectator** (quoted on Hedonism):

“Very polished, with an alluring incense and licoricey edge to the core of supple black cherry, anise and plum sauce flavours. Suave black tea and tar hints chime on the finish, but this stays open-knit and rounded.” Wine Spectator, 2012

**Jeff Leve**: Medium bodied, soft, elegantly styled, forward and ready to offer pleasure today, with all its, soft, silky, fruits. This is really nice today and does not need or demand for aging. 89

Wine Searcher: Haut-Bailly II, Pessac-Leognan, France | prices, reviews, stores & market trends