Château Haut-Bailly

Haut-Bailly announces Chris Wilmers as new president

Chris Wilmers is set to take over as president of Château Haut-Bailly and Château Le Pape following the death of his father, Bob Wilmers, in December 2017.Wilmers, 45, has been on the board of directors of Haut-Bailly since his father bought the Pessac Léognan estate in 1998.

CHÂTEAU HAUT-BAILLY: THE FIRST CLARET IN SPACE?

Chateau Haut-Bailly may become the first claret to be enjoyed in space after the estate puts its name to a wine bottle designed for use in zero-gravity.

The circular bottle was created by design student Octave de Gaulle as part of his Civilizing Space project, which is being exhibited at Bordeaux’s Museum of Decorative Arts and Design.

The bottle, which carries a specially made Haut-Bailly label, is one of a range of designs de Gaulle has created to “enable people to take a bit of their earthly culture into the skies”, the designer told Le Pan. The bottle is designed to be connected to a drinking utensil that resembles a conductor’s baton with a circular grip attached. Château Haut-Bailly came to be involved in the project as a result of being a patron of the museum.

Veronique Sanders, general manager of Haut-Bailly, said: “We had the honour and privilege to meet and host French astronaut Jean-François Clervoy at Château Haut-Bailly a few years ago. He is a brilliant, passionate space professional with whom it would be great to share a glass of Haut-Bailly while learning more about our universe.”

While the Grave estate may lay claim to being the first bottle created for space travel, it is not the first time wine has been considered as a space libation.

Sherry fails to launch

In the 1970s, following extensive research on ways to improve astronauts’ dining experience, Nasa’s Charles Bourland considered introducing cream Sherry as part of their space rations. Bourland shared his recipes and reminiscences in his book The Astronaut’s Cookbook.

Following consultation with professors at the University of California, Davis, Sherry was chosen because its natural stability would make it easier to be repackaged for space journeys.

Paul Masson California Rare Cream Sherry was chosen following a taste test of Sherries, and was ordered for the 70s Skylab mission.

However the Sherry received a lukewarm response from Nasa astronauts preparing for the mission. Indeed, it was reported that when the drink was tested prior to the Skylab mission on Nasa’s special low-gravity ‘Vomit Comet’ aeroplane, the smell made several astronauts nauseous.

Plans to take the Sherry into space were subsequently dropped.

Other drinks to have entered the space age include Scotch whisky. The drinks business reported last year how a vial of Ardbeg had returned to earth after three years in orbit.

The vial of un-matured malt whisky containing particles of charred oak was blasted up to the International Space Station in 2011 as part of an experiment to discover whether there were any differences in the ageing process between whiskies aged in space and those matured on earth.

(TDB)

Château Haut-Bailly 2009 receives 100/100 from Robert Parker!

“Many insiders in Bordeaux claim that the best private chef in all of Bordeaux is among the kitchen staff at Château Haut-Bailly in Pessac-Leognan.” Robert Parker started his article from November 7th 2014 by praising Haut-Bailly’s Private Table.

Careful research in the archives of Château Haut-Bailly reveals the ancient origins of this estate. Already, in 1461, vines were cultivated on this land which at the time was known as « Pujau » (« small height » in Gascon) to emphasize the topography of its exceptional terroir. The foundations of the modern vineyard, however, came from the 1530s, under the leadership of the Goyanèche family and then the Daitze family. These wealthy Basque merchants began buying up prime plots of land. A ‘bourdieu’ (the old name for a wine château in Bordeaux) was soon created.

Following his death, Gaillard Daitze’s heirs took over and continued to manage the estate until it was sold in 1630 to Firmin Le Bailly and Nicolas de Leuvarde. Both men were bankers in Paris as well as great admirers of Graves wines. Recognising the potential of the land, they invested significant funds and built a manor house. Firmin even gave his name to the property. After his death in 1655, the estate was handed down from heir to heir for almost a century. In 1736, the running of the estate was assigned to Thomas Barton, of Irish origin, head of a major trading company specialising in fine wines. Benefiting from a huge amount of business relations in England and Ireland the wines of Château Haut-Bailly started to be greatly appreciated by the "New French claret" fans.

In the 18th century, Château Haut-Bailly was acquired and devotedly managed by two well-known local politicians: Christophe de Lafaurie, Baron de Monbadon and a member of the Bordeaux Parliament, and his son, Laurent, who was elected Mayor of Bordeaux in 1805. Soon after, he became a senator with responsibilities lying outside of Bordeaux and was therefore forced to sell Haut-Bailly in 1813.
In 1872, Alcide Bellot des Minières, following the Archbishop of Bordeaux’s advice, bought the property and built the château as it is known today. Alcide was a man of prodigious energy, who was fascinated by science and driven by new viticultural techniques. After making a fortune in the U.S.A. by opening up new transatlantic maritime routes, Alcide, an outstanding entrepreneur threw his heart and soul into wine. Thanks to his energy and enthusiasm along with rigorous application of precise scientific detail, Haut-Bailly reached the same price-levels as the first-growths: Lafite, Latour, Margaux and Haut-Brion, and continued to command such prices until the 1940s... His many scientific contributions made him a legend and earned him the nickname "King of Vintners.”

Following the death of Alcide Bellot des Minières, Haut-Bailly experienced a period of instability, with frequently changing ownership: Frantz Malvezin, a geographer by training, author of a number of books and editor of L'Oenophile in 1918, the Earl of Lahens and Paul Beaumartin in 1923, Georges Boutemy, originally from northern France whose career was in industrial textiles, in 1940. But the prestigious reputation of its wines had not changed and Haut-Bailly was therefore naturally made one of the "Cru Classé de Graves" in 1953.
In 1955, Château Haut-Bailly was bought by Daniel Sanders, a Belgian wine merchant from Barsac (Gironde). His arrival marked a crucial turning point for the property. Convinced of the estate's potential, he soon undertook significant works. The vineyard was recomposed and the winery and the house renovated. In 1979 his son Jean took over the management of the vineyard and continued to improve the quality and reputation of the wine by putting a focus on selection. His imprint and style have long marked the estate.

Château Haut-Bailly has a unique terroir and it is this which gives its wine such remarkable character and elegance. Terroir encompasses topography – where a vineyard is situated – but also climate – sun, heat, rain, wind, humidity – and the soil in which the vines are grown. Just a stone’s throw away from the city of Bordeaux, Château Haut-Bailly, one of the most prestigious Cru Classé de Graves, sits majestically in a 30 hectare (74 acres) vineyard at the heart of the Graves region on the left bank of the river Garonne.

If great wine results from a harmonious relationship between man, the vine, and nature, the most subtle of these three elements is the soil. Positioned on a high ridge of land excellent for drainage, the soil is sandy and mixed with gravel, sitting on a layer of sandstone petrified with the remains of prehistoric fossil shells. All this contributes to the special character in Haut-Bailly wines.

The vineyard is managed according to strict tradition and chemical weed killers are never used. Spraying is carefully limited, the soil is ploughed and weeded with hoes, and the grapes are picked entirely by hand. In order to grow and harvest grapes of impeccable quality, the volume of production is intentionally limited. Nothing is considered too much for the ‘first wine’ – be it vigorous pruning, crop thinning when necessary, a harvest entirely picked by hand, bleeding ("saignée"), and the strictest selection controls.

Handpicking is still de rigueur at Haut-Bailly and the greatest care is taken to select only the best grapes. These are subjected to the strictest sorting controls, first in the vineyard, next in the winery before being de-stemmed, and finally on a vibrating table following de-stemming.

Vinification takes place in a fermentation room containing 26 thermo-regulated cement tanks of different sizes (ranging from 30 to 120 hectolitres). These specially adapted vats ensure that grapes grown in different parts of the vineyard are kept separate from the time they are picked until the vinification is complete. The wine-making process takes place in cement tanks, whereas the blending is done in stainless steel tanks – a good example of how tradition and modernity go hand in hand at Haut-Bailly.

Alcoholic fermentation lasts eight to ten days and is followed by maceration. This process lasts about three weeks during which time the wine is never overheated – this is when we strive to achieve a perfectly balanced wine.

After the wine is drained from the tanks leaving behind the skins and pips, malolactic fermentation takes place in barrels. The blending only takes place after a number of tastings, 3 to 4 months after the grapes are picked. Only the very best plots will be used for the first wine, “Château Haut-Bailly”. The young wine is stored in oak barrels and left to age in the cellars for sixteen months. Each year, a large number of barrels are replaced – the exact proportion varies according to the vintage. For instance, in 1987, Château Haut-Bailly aged in 33% of new oak barrels while it rose to 65% in 1990. More recently, 60% of new barrels were used in 2004, 63% in 2005 and 55% in 2008. Three cellars have been built to accommodate the ageing process.

For more than forty years, from 1956 to 1990, Professor Emile Peynaud was the consultant-oenologist at Haut-Bailly. In 1990, Professor Pascal Ribereau-Gayon took over. Professor Denis Dubourdieu joined in 1998 & brought his expertise to Haut-Bailly. Under his guidance a research study was carried out to establish balance between terroir, grape variety and graft stock for each plot of land. In 2004, Jean Delmas also became a member of our consulting team.