The 2020 Haut-Bailly II is superb. The tannins and overall structure are suggestive of an important Pessac-Léognan that is going to need time to come around. Dark blue/purplish fruit, lavender and menthol are front and center. A wine of savory energy and intensity, Haut-Bailly II sizzles with energy.

The 2020 Haut-Bailly II was picked September 9–25. It offers a mélange of red and black fruit on the nose, hints of morels/undergrowth lending complexity, then becoming more floral with aeration, all quite mercurial in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit that gently grips. Very marine in style, shucked oyster shells infusing the sappy finish, which leaves an impressively long aftertaste considering this is the Deuxième Vin. Excellent.

Cask sample. Intriguing coffee- and geranium-type aroma here. Is that terroir talking, or is there something not quite right? Certainly errs on the herbal side. Glossy and rounded with correct technical balance, and the kind of buffed tannins that seem a feature of 2020. (RH)