2016 Batailley
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Tasting Notes
The 2016 Batailley has an attractive, meaty bouquet with more red fruit than black, unlike many of its peers. With aeration it appears to gain more floral notes and lift. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, linear and focused, offering pencil lead, cedar and light spicy notes toward the conservative, controlled finish. A mocha-tinged aftertaste emanates from the oak. Good potential, but it needs time. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting.
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Molesworth, Wine Spectator
Wine Spectator
More reviews and scores
The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannin that grip the mouth insistently; with graphite and tobacco-infused black fruit dominating, this a classically styled Batailley in the vein of previous vintages with the elegance coming through towards the finish. This is one of those wines that grows on you, perhaps not as easy or as charming to taste as other Pauillac 2016s at this stage, but knowing this property well, I know how it can blossom when it matters, which is when you and I drink it.
Enticingly fresh, this is open-knit in feel, offering a pretty display of cherry paste and red currant preserve flavors. A twinge of warm earth on the finish keeps this grounded and adds some needed bass.
Lifted, sweet and very Pauillac on the nose. Thick and sweet on the palate though – rather different from the nose. Pretty sharp on the palate with some overtones of the right bank even though the nose is pure Pauillac. Quite a dramatic play, this wine! Drama in spades.
About the producer
It was on the site of Batailley in 1453 that one of the final battles (or “batailles”) of the Hundred Years’ War took place. Today owned by the Castéja family, the Fifth Growth is renowned for producing wine that is the epitome of classic Claret.