Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is really minerally and stony with lots of chewy tannins. Medium-to full-bodied with a clean, fresh finish. Very classic Pauillac. Salty at the end with bitter citrus. Barrel Sample: 94-95
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Wine Spectator
Dark, winey, structured and very Pauillac, this is laden with cassis and blackberry puree flavors scored by charcoal and warm earth, with tobacco and cast iron notes. Very long, focused and seriously well-built finish. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2027 through 2040.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The Grand Vin 2020 Chateau Haut-Batailley is a step up and checks in as 62% Cabernet Sauvignon and 38% Merlot. This medium to full-bodied, ripe, layered, elegant Pauillac has lots of classic Cabernet darker currant fruits, some chocolate, leafy herb, and damp earth nuances, a great mid-palate, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It already offers pleasure yet will evolve for 15-20 years. Best After 2023
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Decanter
Clear salinity and the fennel aniseed touch that I get in Verso de Haut-Batailley also. Gorgeous texture here, this has real balance and a sense of careful walking through the palate, a juice and a tension, with a saline kick. An enjoyably sleek wine, not as powerful as the Lynch Bages, and not intended to be either. Some chocolate notes as it opens, but this has an elegance to it that almost makes it more of a St-Julien, certainly not the powerhouse Pauillac that you get in Lynch Bages.
Barrel Sample: 93 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Haut-Batailley is rich and demonstrative, offering up aromas of blackberries and cherries framed by sweet spices, smoke and new oak. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, it's broad and expansive, with more overt ripeness, body and texture than was formerly the case for this estate. Best After 2025
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
The leader on the Left Bank in number of first growth classified producers within its boundaries, Pauillac has more than any of the other appellations, at three of the five. Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild border St. Estephe on its northern end and Chateau Latour is at Pauillac’s southern end, bordering St. Julien.
While the first growths are certainly some of the better producers of the Left Bank, today they often compete with some of the “lower ranked” producers (second, third, fourth, fifth growth) in quality and value. The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification that goes back to 1855. The finest chateaux in that year were judged on the basis of reputation and trading price; changes in rank since then have been miniscule at best. Today producers such as Chateau Pontet-Canet, Chateau Grand Puy-Lacoste, Chateau Lynch-Bages, among others (all fifth growth) offer some of the most outstanding wines in all of Bordeaux.
Defining characteristics of fine wines from Pauillac (i.e. Cabernet-based Bordeaux Blends) include inky and juicy blackcurrant, cedar or cigar box and plush or chalky tannins.
Layers of gravel in the Pauillac region are key to its wines’ character and quality. The layers offer excellent drainage in the relatively flat topography of the region allowing water to run off into “jalles” or streams, which subsequently flow off into the Gironde.