Chateau Haut-Bailly Pessac-Léognan
Bordeaux 2010
I remember when Château Haut-Bailly was purchased by Robert (Bob) G. Wilmers in 1998.
I was a young sommelier newly arrived in London. I read in the specialized press that Jean Sanders, the grandfather of Véronique Sanders, had sold Haut-Bailly to the Wilmers, a Francophile American banker and his French wife, who entrusted Jean and Véronique with managing the property.
Daniel Sanders, from Lille and of Belgian descent, purchased the Chateau in 1955. His son, Jean Sanders, took over in 1979, and his granddaughter, Veronique Sanders, joined Haut-Bailly in 1997. In 2000, Veronique became the CEO of Haut-Bailly after her grandfather Jean Sanders retired.
Although Haut-Bailly was well regarded in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was not fully leveraging its potential and needed a renaissance. This purchase, along with improvements in winemaking practices and a renewed focus on quality at the estate, combined with Bob's 'spare no expenses' mentality and Veronique's vision, dedication, and ambitions, are often cited as the main reasons for its revival, increased recognition, and popularity.
In the early 2000s, Château Haut-Bailly underwent a complete renovation and modernization of its cellars. This project was part of a broader effort to improve the quality of their wines after the estate was purchased by Robert G. Wilmers (known as Bob). The cellar upgrades were made to help produce the best wines possible.
The cellar restoration was accompanied by significant changes to the vineyard. These involved green harvesting to remove underripe grapes and multiple harvesting passes to achieve optimal ripeness. Oenologist Gabriel Vialard joined the team in 2002 to further enhance the winemaking process.
At that time, I had never visited Haut-Bailly, but I was familiar with the wine, having purchased and sold numerous bottles in various restaurants where I worked in France (1992-1997) and London (1997-2002). Since I loved their wine, I had always promised myself I would pay them a visit someday.
In 2002, after five incredible years in London, I moved to New York and began working at www.PJWine.com, owned by Peter Yi, one of the largest and most successful wine and spirits retail stores in Manhattan at the time.
Peter enjoyed traveling to Bordeaux and Spain every year for about 10-12 days (about 7-8 days in Bordeaux + 3-4 days in Spain) during the "En Primeur" period (around mid-April), with part of his team, to taste wines and plan future purchases.
For five years, from 2002 to 2007, I planned and scheduled these trips in advance by booking visits to the châteaux, making appointments with various négociants, as well as participating to most of the "En Primeur" tastings, such as the "Cru Bourgeois" and the prestigious "Union des Grands Crus" (including booking all the hotels and restaurants in the various appelations and regions we visited).
Besides working as a wine consultant (then wine director) and one of the wine buyers at his retail store and for the website, I also served as a PA and chauffeur during our travels. Every day, I drove the team from 8am until late at night, visiting 2-3 châteaux in the morning, then having lunch at a restaurant, a château, or with a négociant. The afternoons included more château visits or tastings, and we ended the day with dinner at a restaurant, a château, or with a négociant. Afterwards, we returned to our hotel or the château hosting us, such as Pichon Baron, where we had the opportunity to stay several years in a row. These were full days with busy schedules, as Peter aimed to maximize each day.
It was a tough job, with extended hours, seven days a week, but it was worth it, and I loved every minute of it. Because, besides tasting, buying, and selling some of the most prestigious wines in the world, who wouldn't enjoy traveling to regions where they're produced to taste them at the property with the owners and/or the winemakers and having lunch and dinner at some of the best Chateaux and restaurants in Bordeaux, the Basque region, and Spain?
I will always be grateful to Peter Yi, as he offered me the opportunity to do all that and so much more. Interestingly, we both had a certain character and often clashed. He, being Korean American, and I, being French and very opinionated, I guess he saw me as arrogant and annoying. 😅😅😅
And yet, he appreciated the job I was doing for him and saw added value in me. And although he told me every day that he would fire me, he kept me by his side and under his wing for five years. It was more like one of those love-hate relationships between employer and employee, and it always ended with sharing some food and a glass of wine and laughing with the rest of the team at the back of the store. 😉👍🍷
In April 2003, we took our first trip together as a team to Bordeaux. Every day, we had a full schedule visiting properties in various appellations. For Pessac-Leognan, aside from Châteaux such as Haut-Brion, Pape Clément, Carbonnieux, Smith-Haut-Lafitte, and Domaine de Chevalier, I had also arranged a visit to Château Haut-Bailly.
It was a beautiful day. We were driving around Pessac-Leognan after visiting a few other Châteaux in the area when we finally arrived at Château Haut-Bailly.
We were greeted by Véronique Sanders and Robert G. Wilmers, who were having a conversation near the Chateau entrance. Véronique showed us around the property and the cellar before guiding us into a small room by the cellar to taste the wines, the Grand Vin "Chateau Haut-Bailly" and the 2nd wine "La Parde de Haut-Bailly."
While tasting the wines, we asked her a few questions about the differences and transition between her family and Bob Wilmers, who now owned the estate. She told us she was heartbroken at first when her grandfather decided to sell the property. Yet, she was also very excited and pleased, as the purchase had brought about changes, new perspectives, and improved practices in vineyard and cellar management, along with all the benefits that came with them. It was a change for the better.
Appointed as CEO a few years earlier, both the estate and Véronique were in capable hands, looking toward a bright future. It's never easy to work with new owners when it was once your family property. Still, Bob was dedicated and passionate, and by keeping Véronique on his team, he preserved part of the family history and legacy.
We were tasting "barrel samples" of the 2002 vintage, a difficult vintage often referred to as "classic" or "traditional," as they say in Bordeaux. In fact, it was definitely not one of the best. The wines we tasted so far were lean and often showed underripeness, high acidity, and green, astringent tannins. Although some good wines were made in the Médoc, most of the wines from Pessac-Léognan, and especially the Merlot-based wines of the Right Bank, showed less body, less substance, and more greenness.
That said, I was surprised by the fleshiness and juiciness of the 2002 Haut-Bailly wines we were tasting, especially considering the high percentage of Merlot in the blend (35%) of the Grand Vin.
Were the barrel samples selected for the "En Primeur" based on their quality rather than being truly representative of the vintage? (as it was common practice back then, but then again, there's nothing wrong with showing the best samples when presenting your wine to buyers from around the world to ensure sales during the "En Primeur" tasting...)
Or was it because we were tasting them at the property, which usually imparts or even influences your judgment on the true quality of the wine? (difficult to criticize a wine when in the presence of the owner or the winemaker...)
I couldn't say... However, these were good compared to many of the other wines we tasted during that trip. In the end, it made that visit to Haut-Bailly even more memorable. And we ended up buying quite a few cases "En Primeur".
In the following years, we visited Haut-Bailly several times during the En Primeur, always with the same enthusiasm. We were consistently welcomed by Veronique or Gabriel Vialard. We truly witnessed the wines and the estate improve from one year to the next.
In 2007, after five great years where I learned much more than I expected, I left PJWine.com and Peter Yi to work for a smaller store in Brooklyn Heights called "Heights Chateau" to slow down the pace and have more time for my family, especially since my son was only one year old and I wanted to spend more time with him.
Since my last visit to Haut-Bailly in the mid-2000s, I haven't had the chance to return there for various reasons. However, over the years, I was able to continue witnessing the evolution of Haut-Bailly through the "Union des Grands Crus" (UGCB) tastings.
In 2011, I moved to Hong Kong, where I continued sourcing, buying, tasting, and serving Haut-Bailly, as it became a staple of my selections over time. I also continue to taste it every year at the UGCB tastings.
In 2012, Robert G. Wilmers acquired the neighboring property, Chateau Le Pape, also located within the Pessac-Leognan appellation.
In July 2017, an ambitious project for a new cellar, designed by architect Daniel Romeo, was presented to Bob Wilmers, who approved it immediately. Unfortunately, Bob passed away in December of that same year, and his son, Chris, inherited the property. The project commenced in 2018 and was completed within two years (by the end of 2020).
In 2021, the new cellar was inaugurated. A state-of-the-art facility that blends seamlessly with the surrounding landscape. It features a curved, streamlined design with a suspended garden and has received excellent HQE certification for its environmental sustainability. The cellar utilizes high-precision technical equipment and is designed to adapt to climate change, allowing for more precise and elegant winemaking. It marked a new era, enabling them to make even better wines than before.
In 2022, the vineyards expanded in size following the merger of the vines from Château Le Pape into Château Haut-Bailly, making 2021 the last vintage produced under the Château Le Pape label.
Today, Chris Wilmers and Veronique Sanders continue to focus on making the finest wine possible at Chateau Haut-Bailly, which is regarded as one of the best in its appellation and in Bordeaux overall.
Chateau Haut-Bailly Pessac-Leognan Bordeaux 2010
A blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc, Haut-Bailly 2010 remains vibrant and lively even after 15 years, and is likely to continue doing so for many more years to come. The 2010 vintage in Bordeaux was a promise of quality and concentration, thanks to July, which was hot and sunny, resulting in water stress that halted plant growth and led to better concentration and ripeness in smaller grapes. The contrasting cool night brought balance and freshness. Attentive winemaking, including precise harvesting and gentle extraction with controlled fermentation temperatures (around 26°C to prevent high alcohol content), was key to producing an exceptional wine.
The resulting wine is quite dense, rich, and even powerful, with good ageing potential still remaining. Beyond its dark, opaque color, it offers enticing notes of dark fruit and blackberry, mingling with secondary and tertiary aromas. The palate is condensed and textured, with a complex structure, enhanced by enough acidity to keep it fresh and balanced. The finish is long, generous, and earthy. What a wine!
I was hesitant to decant it that night for that dinner, but I should have as it would have undoubtedly benefited from it. Fortunately, I opened it more than an hour before serving it.
My advice: buy a few bottles, drink one now to taste it, and keep the others in your cellar for a while, if you have the patience to do so. 😄👍🍷
Cheers! Santé!
Dom
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