Last night ten of us sat down at the Medlar restaurant on Chelsea's Kings Road for a vertical tasting dinner of Chateau Haut-Bailly. Nothing younger than 2004 was allowed.
With canapés
1999 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart
Very fine, very refined, beautifully poised. A treat to have a couple of refills from the magnum. 95
Flight one
1970 Château Haut-Bailly
Taut, lean, stern and austere, a modicum of dark fruits, earth and tobacco notes. Old school. Still very much a going concern, but will not reward keeping. 88
1978 Château Haut-Bailly
Tobacco and weed with some menthol notes. It is a little more generous than the 1970 but still resolutely old school. A bit high-toned but nicely resolved and finishes well. 89
1985 Château Haut-Bailly
I have read rave reviews about this wine, so I suspect this bottle was below par. It was austere and curmudgeonly especially for a 1985. 87
No fireworks in this flight
Flight two
1988 Château Haut-Bailly
This is more like it. More rounded and giving than any of the first flight, more density and power on the mid-palate and a medium finish. A very satisfying claret but not quite out of the very top drawer when it comes to 1988s. 92
1995 Château Haut-Bailly - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Quite austere initially but wonderful trademark gravelly notes with a dense and powerful mid-palate. Good fruit and texture. This is drinking very well and should continue to do so for another couple of decades. 93
1996 Château Haut-Bailly
Similar to the 1995, perhaps a little more exuberant fruit, but without quite the same persistence. 91
Flight three
1998 Château Haut-Bailly
I have enjoyed the lion's share of a case of this generous medium-full bodied Graves. This particularly bottle looked and tasted young and primary with its inky opaque hue. On this showing could use more time. 91+
2000 Château Haut-Bailly
Not showing much now, dense and powerful. Revisit in a decade. 91 ++
2001 Château Haut-Bailly
A little bit more accessible than the 2000 and a bit of heat too. Not in a great place right now. 90+
2004 Château Haut-Bailly
This tastes every young for a wine than has given great pleasure on the couple of previous occasions I have tried it. Notes of piped tobacco, rocky minerality, dense and long. Wine of the flight. 93+
With dessert
1988 Château Raymond-Lafon
Nicely balanced and resolved and gives great pleasure. 92
An interesting and enlightening dinner. No duds but no 'holy cow!' moments either. The wine of the night was the Billecart. Which vintages of Haut-Bailly would I buy? Probably the 1995 and the 2004 from this lot.