ABOUT CHÂTEAU HAUT BAILLY

Château Haut Bailly is a Grand Cru Classé de Graves estate in the communes of Pessac-Léognan.  The eatate dates to the 15th century, but takes its name from the Le Bailly family, who owned it in the 1630s.

The estate was purchased in 1955 by Daniel Sanders, a Belgian Bordeaux wine merchant. The estate was purchased in 1998 by Robert and Elisabeth Wilmers.  They appointed Veronique Sanders (great-granddaughter of Daniel Sanders) as general manager after she approached Wilmers directly and asked for the role.  She continues to be the very visible face of the estate.  Bob Wilmers passed away in 2017.  His son, Chris Wilmers, is a professor of Ecology in California and now acts as Haut Bailly's president, but leaves the running of the estate to Sanders.

Veronique Sanders has steadily been raising the quality here to First Growth levels, inspired by wine lists from the early 1900s that show this estate was rated alongside Mouton and Lafite by reputation and pricing.  The 33-hectare vineyard is planted to 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot.  Planting density is very high at 10,000 vines per ha.  The terroir is gravel, sandstone, and sand over limestone soils.  A new winery was constructed and launched with the 2021 vintage.