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Château Haut-Bailly Winery Guide

Cellar Tours Insight — Since 2003, Cellar Tours has planned private wine journeys through the world’s leading wine regions, pairing tailor-made itineraries with VIP winery visits, fine dining, and expert regional guidance.

Winery Overview

Few estates in Bordeaux inspire the same affection as Haut-Bailly. And with good reason. Their wines are superb, the Château is beautiful, and the owners are always friendly and welcoming. It is a star in the Pessac-Leognan region of Bordeaux, making incredibly consistent, fine red wine at a reasonable price! Haut-Bailly is hard to beat for a great introduction to the wines of Bordeaux.

The property was created in the 1630s by a Parisian banker called Firmin Le Bailly in partnership with a wine merchant named Nicolas de Leuvarde. It passed through various hands until 1872, when it was acquired by an engineer Alcide Henri Bellot des Minieres (let’s stick to Alcide!), who built the Château and planted the ancestors of the vineyards we see today. As with so many of these great estates, a period of instability and neglect would follow Alcide’s death in 1906, when the property was inherited by his daughter, who quickly sold it. Thankfully, in 1955 a Belgian merchant, Daniel Sanders, brought Haut-Bailly and replanted much of the property. Unbelievably, only 10 hectares were under vine at the time, as many vineyards had been abandoned and given to grazing land. In 1979, his son Jean took over and continued his father’s work restoring the property to its original size.

Jean Sanders had a few years to enjoy his hard work until his sisters decided they wanted their share of the estate. As fortune would have it, the Château was purchased by a banker from New York State called Robert Wilmers, who had a real passion for the region and its wines. He has continued the hard work of Jean and invested heavily in Haut-Bailly. Today, it produces some of the best value wine in the region, never disappointing, consistently excellent. The Château offers a fantastic view of the vineyards, blessed with magical soil and situation that make outstanding wines. We can organize a private stay at the Château for very special guests, including superb meals created by your own chef.

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Further Reading

Author

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James Lawrence

With a passion for food & drink that verges on the obsessive, wine writer James Lawrence has traveled the world in search of the perfect tipple. To date, nothing has surpassed the 1952 R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Rioja Reserva, tasted in the cobweb-filled cellars with owner María José. Meanwhile, James has been writing for a wide variety of publications for over 12 years, including Telegraph, Decanter, Harpers, The Drinks Business, and Wine Business International. He lives in South Wales and returns to his former university city, Bilbao, as much as possible.

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