Chateau Haut-Bailly label

Chateau Haut-Bailly 2012

Red Wine

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Item# 1757-12

Product Ratings

James Suckling 94pt
Wine Enthusiast 94pt
Wine Spectator 93pt
Vinous Media 93pt
Wine Advocate 94pt

Vintage

The 2012 vintage plays like a foxtrot – in four defined steps...
1. Following a cold dry winter, a cool, wet spring made the flowering process difficult and threatened some Merlot vines with "coulure".
2. As cool temperatures persisted until the beginning of July, we kept an extra careful eye on the vineyard and fought the onset of diseases (mildiou, oïdium). The team remained on hand throughout the summer to carry out leaf thinning and other early work. A protracted and uneven "veraison" period forced us to complete a second green harvest in order to eliminate unripe bunches.
3. The month of August had the advantage of wide temperature ranges with hot days; as sunny as in 2000 or 2009, with highs of 39 Celsius during the second fortnight, and cool nights. All which favour the synthesis of anthocyanin. Traditional tilling of the soil allowed better management of hydric stress from mid-August onwards, as the continued good condition of the leaves testified.
4. At the end of a summer-like month of September, a few millimeters of rain on September 25th and 26th helped to re-kindle the ripening of the grapes, which led to the sublimation of the fruity character of the skins and the softness of the tannins.