2009 Château Haut-Batailley, Pauillac, Bordeaux

2009 Château Haut-Batailley, Pauillac, Bordeaux

Product: 20098006895
 
2009 Château Haut-Batailley, Pauillac, Bordeaux

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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Description

The 2009 Ch. Haut Batailley is a very classy wine. Succulent, with an aromatic, cassis perfume and a real depth of dense, earthy blackcurrant fruit, this has glorious texture and a high level of beautifully ripe tannins. A lovely mineral frshness provides perfect balance. This should be one of the value buys of the vintage.

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate92/100
Tasted at a vertical tasting at the chteau. The 2009 Haut Batailley has a much tighter and less expressive bouquet than many 2009s at the moment (in fact, you might think this was a 2010 if served blind!). Fortunately it only takes a few swirls to reveal some gorgeous minerally blackberry, bilberry and crushed limestone aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, a more structured 2009 Pauillac than others, yet beautifully balanced and with plenty of fruit towards the precise finish. This feels like a very polished Haut-Batailleynot in the winery, rather by nature. Tasted July 2016.
Neal Martin - 30/06/2017 Read more
Jancis Robinson MW17/20
Mid to deep crimson. Firm and quite dry. Racy. Grainy taffeta texture. Long. Very neat.
(Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com - Apr 2010) Read more
Robert Parker88-90/100
Even though Haut-Batailley is usually a finesse-styled Pauillac, the 2009 IS Somewhat light for the vintage. However, it exhibits lovely, round, berry fruit, a hint of loamy soil, medium body, soft tannins, and a pretty, elegant style. It should drink nicely for 15 years.
(Robert Parker - Wine Advocate - April 2010) Read more

About this WINE

Chateau Haut-Batailley

Chateau Haut-Batailley

In the spring of 2017, the Cazes family of Ch. Lynch-Bages, acquired the Château Haut-Batailley estate from the Brest-Borie family, who had owned it since the 1930s. The fifth-growth property has approximately 22 hectares of vines, which are – on average – 35 years old.

Located in the very south of the Pauillac appellation, the property shares a similar climate to that enjoyed by the Médoc: maritime, with the Gironde estuary and the Bay of Biscay combining to act as a climate regulator and the coastal pine forests sheltering the vines from the westerly and north-westerly winds. Its near neighbours include Ch. Lynch-Bages, Ch. Pichon Lalande and Ch. Latour.

The vineyards (Cabernet Sauvignon 61%; Merlot 36%; Petit Verdot 3%) lie on deep gravel beds over limestone. It is classified as a 5ème cru classé.

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Pauillac

Pauillac

Pauillac is the aristocrat of the Médoc boasting boasting 75 percent of the region’s First Growths and with Grand Cru Classés representing 84 percent of Pauillac's production.

For a small town, surrounded by so many familiar and regal names, Pauillac imparts a slightly seedy impression. There are no grand hotels or restaurants – with the honourable exception of the establishments owned by Jean-Michel Cazes – rather a small port and yacht harbour, and a dominant petrochemical plant.

Yet outside the town, , there is arguably the greatest concentration of fabulous vineyards throughout all Bordeaux, including three of the five First Growths. Bordering St Estèphe to the north and St Julien to the south, Pauillac has fine, deep gravel soils with important iron and marl deposits, and a subtle, softly-rolling landscape, cut by a series of small streams running into the Gironde. The vineyards are located on two gravel-rich plateaux, one to the northwest of the town of Pauillac and the other to the south, with the vines reaching a greater depth than anywhere else in the Médoc.

Pauillac's first growths each have their own unique characteristics; Lafite Rothschild, tucked in the northern part of Pauillac on the St Estèphe border, produces Pauillac's most aromatically complex and subtly-flavoured wine. Mouton Rothschild's vineyards lie on a well-drained gravel ridge and - with its high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon - can produce (in its best years) Pauillac's most decadently rich, fleshy and exotic wine.

Latour, arguably Bordeaux's most consistent First Growth, is located in southern Pauillac next to St Julien. Its soil is gravel-rich with superb drainage, and Latour's vines penetrate as far as five metres into the soil. It produces perhaps the most long-lived wines of the Médoc.

Recommended Châteaux
Ch. Lafite-Rothschild, Ch. Latour, Ch. Mouton-Rothschild, Ch. Pichon-Longueville Baron, Ch. Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Ch. Lynch-Bages, Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Ch, Pontet-Canet, Les Forts de Latour, Ch. Haut-Batailley, Ch. Batailley, Ch. Haut-Bages Libéral.

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Cabernet Sauvignon blend

Cabernet Sauvignon blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.