This red shows intense blackberries, raspberries and strawberries on the nose, following through to a full body with refined yet firm tannins, fresh acidity and a delicate finish. The purity of fruit and finesse and texture of the tannins are all fantastic. Drink in 2019.

In the same ballpark quality-wise as the 2006, 2008, and 2014, the 2012 Château Haut-Bailly has beautiful ripeness in its sweet red and black fruits as well as notes of smoky tobacco, tapenade, and damp earth. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has a broad, rounded mouthfeel and shows the inherent elegance that's the hallmark of this terroir. It's still youthful but drinking brilliantly. Enjoy bottles any time over the coming 15+ years.

The 2012 Haut Bailly is a brilliant wine for the vintage. It has a very intense bouquet with scents of blackberry, bilberry, cedar and a touch of pencil lead. This is very well defined and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannin, certainly one of the most structured Pessac-Léognan wines that I have encountered, yet it is struck through with wonderful balance and focus. It tightens up a little on the finish, a 2012 built for long-term drinking pleasure, and as such, I would afford it five or six more years in bottle if wishing to experience this in full flight. Tasted March 2017. - Neal Martin

Very firm and closed up, this wine is a tough proposition at the moment. It has the weight to develop well along with richness. Acidity, sweet fruits and concentrated tannins will all come through strongly as the wine matures. Drink from 2020.

Touches of smoked caramel as seen with the 2009 vintage, highlight that this vintage has a gourmet character compared to the 2011, the result of hot days and cool nights, with a fairly late harvest from September 27 to October 15. Tightly knitted fruit character, dense blackberry and black cherry, still young at this point. A delicious wine, if not as signature Haut-Bailly as the 2011.

Evident cocoa bean, dusted almonds, generous blackberry fruits, creamy griotte cherry, gourmet edged, with fresh acidities that ensure balance. Enjoyable, good quality with creamy fruit that builds through the palate. This is ready to drink but will continue to deliver over the next decade or more. Harvest 27 September to 15 October, Denis Dubourdieu consultant, Gabriel Vialard winemaker.

Medium to deep garnet colored, the 2012 Haut-Bailly delivers plum preserves, warm cassis, and spice cake scents with touches of licorice and clove oil. Light to medium-bodied, with rounded tannins and plenty of freshness supporting the juicy black fruits, it finishes with an herbal lift. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Medium to deep garnet colored, the 2012 Haut-Bailly delivers plum preserves, warm cassis, and spice cake scents with touches of licorice and clove oil. Light to medium-bodied, with rounded tannins and plenty of freshness supporting the juicy black fruits, it finishes with an herbal lift. -Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Well-stuffed, with thick and muscular brambly structure that easily supports the core of macerated black currant, fig and boysenberry fruit flavors. A tarry edge coats the finish. More backwards than most of its peers at this early stage, but all the elements are in place. Best from 2018 through 2027.

The 2012 Haut-Bailly has a well-defined bouquet, blackberry and tobacco at first, red fruit emerging with time. The oak is neatly folded in here. The palate is ripe and fleshy on the entry, powerful and quite dense, although it lacks the complexity of the de Fieuzal towards the finish and just misses a bit of vigour, unlike the bottle that formed part of my vertical at the property. Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index's Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting. -- Neal Martin