The 2015 Haut Bailly checks in as a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot that comes from the gravelly soils of the Graves region, just southeast of Bordeaux. It's an incredibly beautiful, classy 2015 that offers a sexy bouquet of crème de cassis, lead pencil shavings, tobacco leaf, and exotic spices. Deep, full-bodied, and voluptuously textured, with ultra-fine tannin and building richness that never takes away from its incredible elegance and purity, it's another heavenly 2015 that's going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and just sing for 2-3 decades. Hats off to winemaker Véronique Sanders - this might end up rivaling the out of this world 2009.

Composed of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot, the deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Haut-Bailly offers up a tantalizingly savory nose of smoked meats, chargrill, tapenade, unsmoked cigars and black truffles with a core of black currants, black cherries and wild blueberries plus wafts of iron ore and bouquet garni. Medium to full-bodied, very firm and yet wonderfully plush with a powerful core of fruit-this vintage is truly an iron fist in a velvet glove. The finish goes on and on with persistent earthy/minerally notes and savory/sweet fruit. Although it is tempting and indeed delicious right now, the wine still possesses many restrained layers and should handsomely reward the patient.

Barrel Sample. This wine is finely balanced with its ripe, dusty tannins contrasted by bold blackberry fruits. This is an impressive wine that has great structure, showing the quality of the Cabernet in the vintage.

Fresh and pure, with cassis and cherry preserve notes streaming through, guided gently by singed vanilla, tobacco and dried star anise details. Roasted apple wood accents drape the finish for now, but the fruit should soak that up easily with cellaring. Shows some sneaky depth here, only obscured by the freshness. Better to wait this one out. Best from 2020 through 2040. 6,665 cases made.

The 2015 Haut-Bailly has a very attractive bouquet with red currant, strawberry, crushed stone and subtle graphite aromas, becoming more floral with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, well judged acidity, a little "correct" in style. Precise and detailed on the classic, pencil lead finish. This is one Pessac-Léognan that I scored conservatively, only for it to improve dramatically after 5 or 10 minutes. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.