2017 Château Batailley
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Tasting notes
Tasted blind. Deep ruby colour. Exotic spices from plush and toasty oak on the nose. This plush, rounded fruit continues on the palate, but there is a graphite edge that is savoury and moreish. Very structured with sandy, arresting tannins, it will need patience before it reaches balance. (TP)
Critic scores
James Suckling
Decanter
More reviews and scores
Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Batailley gallops out of the gates with notes of baked redcurrants, black raspberries and blackcurrant pastilles plus wafts of cedar chest, bay leaves and rosehip tea. Medium-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-coating black fruits with a firm, grainy texture and lively lift to the finish.
The 2017 Batailley has a perfumed bouquet, quite floral for this property, with violets infusing the vivacious red berry fruit. The palate is a little chewy on the entry, but it pulls through nicely towards a cohesive, dense finish. It feels primal, more so than its peers at the moment. Hopefully it will develop more personality with bottle age...I think it will.
80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot. Very dark crimson. Intense animal notes on sweet cassis. A little more diffuse than the two wines from Mouton that flank it in this tasting (Chx d'Armailhac and Clerc Milon 2017) but a very solid effort. Not exactly subtle but it should please bordeaux lovers in the medium term. (JR)
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.