2020 Château Batailley, Pauillac, Bordeaux

Dark fruit with cassis notes and a graphite edge. Fine attack, juicy and refreshing but backed by a firmness of structure behind. Solid, subdued and distinctly Pauillac. Still relative value.

Drink 2028 - 2040

A strong effort for this Pauillac fifth growth, the 2020 Batailley offers up aromas of sweet blackcurrant fruit mingled with notes of cloves, baking spices, vanilla pod and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, with good depth and concentration, its pure core of fruit is framed by powdery, youthfully assertive tannins.

Drink 2027 - 2050

Darker currants, black cherries, leather, ripe tobacco, and cedar pencil notes all emerge from the 2020 Château Batailley, a classic, balanced, nicely concentrated Pauillac with lots to love. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has plenty of mid-palate depth, ripe tannins, and just a charming, satisfying character that will evolve nicely for two decades if well stored. It's certainly in the same league as the 2015, 2016, and 2019.

Drink 2025 - 2043

The 2020 Batailley has a well-defined bouquet with quite precocious blackberry and raspberry fruit, graphite, just a hint of aniseed, very nicely focused and poised. The palate is medium-bodied with tensile black fruit and armed with commendable salinity and a very detailed finish that lingers in the mouth. Want a classically-styled Pauillac at a good value? Look no further.

Drink 2028 - 2055

42hl/ha, owned by the Casteja family.

Always a Pauillac that I love to recommend, as it is packed with appellation signature, and it suits the slightly serious character of 2020. Entirely delivers on En Primeur promise, with charcoal, cigar box, slate, crayon and fragrant mint leaf set against waves of black cherry and cassis fruit.

Drink 2028 - 2046

70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc.

Aromas of black and red currants as well as orange. Ink pot. Cassis bush. Bramble berry. Graphite. Full-bodied yet tight and back-loaded with intense tannins, but they turn soft and polished. Very classic structure. Reminds me of a top Batailley from the 1980s, like 1985, but much more precise and clear.

Try after 2030

18 months ageing in oak barrels, 60% new.

Really quite fragrant, with lots of purple flowers and purple fruits, ripe blackcurrants, and pencil shavings - deep and brooding. Supple and succulent, immediately just so balanced and comfortable in the mouth, calm and quietly confident, less showing off, not so overt or upfront, but more mouth-filling and expansive. Tannins give a stronghold in the mouth but are fine and velvety in texture, cushioning the cool fruit - blueberries and black cherries with mint and liquorice edges but not spiced. There’s an air of style but also of ease, you could drink this now, it's so approachable and likeable in the glass. Mouthwatering acidity, long and giving. Lovely structure and frame, great definition and persistence from the beginning. Opulent and structured, this needs some time, but I like the texture and tension, excellent potential.

Drink 2027 - 2048