Michael Schuster | Haut-Bailly II is the relatively new name for what used to be called Les Pardes, the second wine. Dense and freshly blackberry-ripe Merlot to smell; full and concentrated, fresh and moderately tannic; rich, quite dense, subtly Merlot fleshy, very fine-textured and close-grained, with a lovely ripe fruit, utterly without excess; an excellent length of flavor and pronounced, subtle fruit- and gravel-tinged persistence. Some second wine this, a most complete performance to match all the hype about its new presentation! Merlot charm refined by Cabernet complexity. Very classy winemaking. 2027–45+.