Batailley 2000

Black currant, licorice, damp earth, moss, and fresh porcini mushroom characteristics emerge from this dark plum/ruby-colored Pauillac. It is not as strong, powerful, or deep as more recent vintages of Batailley, with noticeable, but not excessive tannin as well as medium body. Drink it over the next 7-8 years.

Tasted at the Batailley vertical tasting at the château, the 2000 Batailley displayed youthful vigor on the nose with boysenberry and damson fruit, incense and iodine. As I remarked when I last tasted this in 2011, there is an opulence here that this estate rarely produced up until this period. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin; this bottle is more backward than others, with firm tannin providing sturdy backbone. It remains a "burly" Pauillac for the vintage, and it is certainly masculine in style. Then again, that is a leitmotif of the millennial vintage. As such, I can envisage this mellowing in four to six year's time, whereupon it will have the substance to give drinking pleasure over many years. Tasted April 2016. Drink 2020 - 2045.

Always a tight-fisted, traditionally-styled Pauillac that performs better at ten years of age, the 2000 Batailley reveals a dark ruby color along with sweet black currant fruit presented in an uncomplicated, medium-bodied, firmly tannic, well-delineated style. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2020.

This traditionally-styled Pauillac never performs as well young as it does at 10-12 years of age. The deep ruby/purple-colored, restrained 2000 Batailley offers scents of minerals, underbrush, and black currants, and a structured, medium-bodied, moderately long finish. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2018. The French would say this wine is intended for the "gout anglais."