(98-100 points) Super slow and steady expansion as it goes through the palate, this absolutely makes you smile and is right up at the top of my expectations for how Haut-Bailly would perform in this often-conflicting vintage. Beautiful, crushed rose petals, wet stones, iris flowers, squid ink, shows finesse but also generosity, a wine with so many dimensions and layers to experience. Sit back, give it a good 6 to 8 years in bottle, then get ready to celebrate. 55% in first wine, 50% new oak, 3.6ph. harvest September 4 to 22.

(98-99 points) A beautiful fruit to this delicate and refined wine. The tannins are perfectly integrated into the wine and almost give it a pinot texture. The finest silk. It’s medium-bodied with precise and focused fruit and an endless finish. The exceptional harmony of this young wine makes you want to drink it. 55% cabernet sauvignon, 36% merlot, 5% cabernet franc and 4% petit verdot. 13.3% alcohol. pH 3.67.

(97-99 points)Checking in as a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot, the 2025 Château Haut-Bailly is a sensational Haut-Bailly all about finesse and elegance. Ripe black cherries, currants, smoky tobacco, violets, spice, and flowers all define the bouquet, and on the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, with a pure, graceful mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a very long, elegant finish. It's not a blockbuster, but it's exactly what this terroir yields with its complex, nuanced, layered, graceful style. You should buy this.

Lovely floral aromatics with an abundance of rose petals. Supple and so smooth, silky tannins and really vibrant red cherry fruit. Quite a brilliant and energetic style. Plump but juicy with acidity that gives a clear backbone and drive. I love the slightly fuller expression, it’s not lacking in depth or attitude and fills the mouth with a fleshy grip yet still lifted, bright and so cool. Impressive. Haut Bailly has been one of the more delicate wines in recent vintages and this is a little more upfront, lively and characterful and I love it for that – while still keeping elegance and refinement. Ripe, punchy, bright, forward. A great success. 4% Petit Verdot completes the blend.

(96-98 points) Initially, you notice a mélange of red, with black cherries, before diving into the flowers, black raspberries, tobacco, and smoke. The palate is the showstopper, with its sweetness, elegance, and gorgeous purity in the fruit. Light on its feet, long, and vibrant, it offers lift, balance, and refinement. While this is not the most powerful vintage of Haut Bailly, it could be the most elegant. With just a few years in the cellar, it will be gorgeous to savor for at least two to three decades of evolution with pleasure. The key to the vintage was the hot, dry summer, paired with the late August rains. The wine blends 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot. 13.5% ABV. pH 3.67. The harvest took place from September 4 to September 22. Yields were quite low at 26 hectoliters per hectare. 3% press wine. Drink from 2030-2060. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2025&wine=Chateau%20Haut-Bailly

(96-98+ points) (Pessac-Léognan; 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot; a final yield of 28 hl/ha; 13.5% ABV; tasted at the property before an extensive vertical with Veronique Sanders; Axel Marchal is the consultant). Much more radiant, more lifted, more aerial, and also more substantial and more vibrant than the already strikingly impressive Haut Bailly II. More graphite than cedar at this early stage, but both will coarse through the plump, plush, dark berry and stone fruits that soar from the glass in time. Here the peppery notes are a little more subtle and greener. Candlewax and patchouli, a little hint of incense. This is strikingly vivid again in the mouth, with great intensity ratcheted up by the relatively narrow frame the wine takes from the attack. The cassis comes through with aeration in the mouth, bringing additional lift and freshness, and then we get to the layered plateau of silken-textured fruit that conveys us to a distant horizon. Deeply impressive and unlike any other wine of the appellation. 96-98+

(96-98 points) Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2025 Haut-Bailly bursts with bold notes of crushed black currants, wild blueberries, and strawberry preserves, giving way to a core of lilacs, licorice, espresso, and Sichuan pepper, with a touch of garrigue. The medium-bodied palate is tightly wound with black and blue fruit layers, framed by firm, fine-grained tannins and great tension, finishing long with red berry and floral sparks. Superb!

(96-98 points) The 2025 Haut-Bailly was picked between September 4 and 22 at 26.6 hl/ha, raised in 50% new oak. Similar to elsewhere this year, I found a distinct difference between the Grand and Deuxième Vins, this possessing greater delineation and complexity. A mixture of brambly red fruit, briar, a touch of cassis and orange rind that is beautifully delineated. The palate is exquisite: very fine tannins, tangible minéralité, very cohesive and focused, with a very complex, peppery finish that goes on and on and on. Svelte, harmonious and tender, this ranks amongst the best vintages from Haut-Bailly in recent years. - By Neal Martin on May 2026

(95-97 points) There is a fine concentration on the nose of this, showing the dark ripe fruit of the vintage, with notes of currant, dried cranberry and lavender. A dry and distinguished palate follows, immediately silky and seductive, with a core of dried hedgerow fruits, supported by a notes of crushed stone and lavender, which then parts to reveal a dense, shimmering core of tannins, with a great energy and drive to it. Such balance, harmony and panache here, in a coherent palate. It has great length too, the finish charged and warming, wrapped up in a fine-grained grip. An impressive and structured Haut-Bailly which certainly reflects the warmer and more generous start to the season in its frame, but with typical Haut-Bailly elegance, linearity and freshness to the finish. Wonderful! Tasted twice. It is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc, picking started on September 4th, finishing on the 22nd. The yield was 26.6 hl/ha. The alcohol is 13.3% on analysis. 95-97/100

(93-96 points) Intense, deep and crunchy with notes of liquorice, dark fruits and cherries. Very subtle, fine, round and intense with layer upon layer of soft, crunchy ripe, cassis filled fruit followed by a wonderful freshness in the aftertaste. This is an Haut-Bailly on the lighter side and it should be ready to be consumed a bit early on than normal.