| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Pauillac |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
Historically a part of Batailley until the property was split in two in the 1940s. Until recently this château was owned by the aunt of Grand Puy Lacoste proprietor Xavier Borie, who made the wine. The property was sold to the Cazes family of neighbouring Lynch Bages in March 2017. Quality has jumped under the new ownership and there is a stylish new label and a new second wine called "Verso". The 40 hectare property has 22 hectares of vines (average age 35 years) and these are planted with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. The vines are extremely well situated, bordering those of Lynch Bages, Les Forts de Latour and Pichon Lalande.
There are a lot of young vines here so 50% of the crop in 2022 went into the 2nd label Verso. The grand vin is 70% Cabernet Sauvigno, 30% Merlot.
The 2022 Haut-Batailley is matured in 65% new oak for a planned 16 months. It has a very intense and almost untamed bouquet that explodes from the glass, and only after five or ten minutes does it begin to show some restraint. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy, fresh and multi-layered tannins, not dissimilar to the Mouton-Rothschild that I tasted a couple of hours earlier. With a satin-textured finish, this will need a decade in the cellar and some taming during élevage. Like a young tiger at the moment. It has 14.2% alcohol. 2033-2070
A blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, the 2022 Haut-Batailley offers up aromas of sweet berries and plums mingled with licorice and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, firm and structured, it's a serious, rather muscular and extracted wine that begins to nod toward its stablemate Lynch Bages in style.
Deep ruby colour, with blackcurrant and a little lifted red fruit on the nose. There is a touch of kirsch on the palate, which is dense and chalky but chiselled. There is added muscle to Haut Batailley since the Cazes family's ownership, but it remains sinewy and more linear than the broad and bruising Lynch Bages. Long, grippy and dark fruited on the finish. Impressive.
Classy and very focused with blackberry and blackcurrant character. The tannins nicely melt into the wine with finesse and weightlessness. Elegant. 70% cabernet sauvignon and 30% merlot.
The 2022 Haut-Batailley, 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, is deep garnet-purple in color. It gallops out with bold notions of warm cassis, blackberry pie, and black raspberries, followed by hints of clove oil, tilled soil, and lilacs. The medium to full-bodied palate has a rock-solid backbone of firm, grainy tannins and plenty of freshness to support the taut, muscular fruit, finishing long and minerally. pH 3.73, TPI 92.
Sculpted plum and raspbery puree fruits, fresh lift through the palte, this is a lovely wine that has intense liquorice and bilberry fruit, a little austere in its tannic structure on the finish, more so than in recent vintages at this sculpted fruit-forward Pauillac, but there is great spice here, and has the phenolic richness and density of the year. 3.73ph, 65% new oak.
70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot. Cask sample.
Fragrant Cabernet nose. Juicy on the palate with plentiful but polished tannins. Builds to a long, persistent finish. Elegance and power combined. (JL)
Drink 2030– 2045
