Part One:
Ch. Haut-Bailly 1978
This is such a lovely wine! The nose is full of red-toned, typically Gravesian fruit with all the earthiness and savouriness I hope to find. To my tastes this is drinking at its best - a perfectly and perfect mature wine. The palate has copious fruit of the savoury nature and a good structure from both acids and tannins yet all is resolved into a perfectly harmonious whole. This is a bright and transparent wine and begs me to take another sip. It is almost Burgundian in its brightness. Lovely, utterly lovely.
Ch. Haut-Bailly 1985
A much more voluptious nose than the 1978. It is more fruity, not so bright and elegant, but very Claretty nonetheless. A pure delight, but for my tastes would need a couple years more. The palate is a bit softer than I would hope - though I do tend to like my wines from leaner years, the 1985s by and large have been much to my taste. And though I like this wine very much - I might even say that I love this wine - I would hope a more acidic profile to it. The palate is just a touch too soft. But it is a great pleasure to drink it.
Ch. Haut-Bailly 1986
An oddity among the Haut-Baillys I have drunk. This is a masculine, structured wine, without the elegant softness I have found in other vintages - it seems that there isn't the typically Gravesian Merlot aromatics at all. It is still a very lovable wine, but it isn't H-B like I understand it to be. Tannic and fruity and more magisterial than lovable. It is drinking well now with an hour's decanting, but really would require a bit more age.
Part two (on another day):
Ch. Batailley 1979
This is going more towards on orange colour, but still has a deep core. The nose is a little bit like the H-B '78 of the previous night, but a more cedary, more muscular, less Burgundian, less poised - frankly a bit clumsy after H-B, but still a lovable and true Pauillac. Though resolved, I still felt like having a chunk of lamb to nibble (though Rudolf wasn't bad with it, either I have to admit).
Ch. Batailley 1996
Since our reindeer was rather rare, we opened up a younger vintage (I like tannins with rare meat) to compare with the '79. This tastes like Claret. That's about all I can say about it. Archetypal. Could do with a bit more age, but with a bloody chunk of meat, it's a delight even now.
Ch. Cos d'Estournel 1994
This was a last minute idea since it was available in halves and we all felt like drinking just a little bit more. It was vegetal, fresh and savoury and had all the classy foursquaredness that I like in St-Estephe. I'm really beginning to like the 1994s - it's shaping up almost like another 1988 - a vintage for those of us who like Claret, rather than goopy Bordeaux.