Winemaker Notes
Château Haut-Batailley is a harmonious, elegant wine with a fine tannic structure and will develop even more complexity and depth over time.
Blend: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Juicy red, blue, and black fruits, scorched earth, sappy flowers, and chalky minerality all emerge from the 2022 Château Haut-Batailley, a beautifully pure, polished, elegant Pauillac that's medium to full-bodied has a layered, elegant mouthfeel, and ultra-fine tannins.The 2022 is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, raised in 65% new French oak
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James Suckling
There’s a very attractive palate to this, showing lead pencil, blackcurrants and granite. Hints of herbs and tobacco. Medium- to full-bodied with creamy tannins and a savory finish. It's firm and lively at the end.
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Vinous
The 2022 Haut-Batailley is a potent, brooding wine. Black cherry, gravel, cured meat, spice and leather infuse the 2022 with tons of mineral and savory intensity, backed by a formidable spine of tannin that gives the wine shape and vertical thrust. I imagine the 2022 will need the better part of a decade to come into its own.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and fresh, with a mix of red and black currant and cherry notes infused with an iris accent. Shows purity through the iron-tinged finish. An elegantly styled Pauillac that should age gracefully in the cellar. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2022 Fifth Growth Chateau Haut-Batailley performed very well in the vintage. I had sometimes overlooked this producer in the past years, but this vintage dazzled me. This wine offers aromas and flavors of blackberry, with a side of licorice, and a touch of oak. (Tasted: January 23, 2025, San Francisco, CA)
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Decanter
Ripe, dark bramble fruits, concentrated and intense on the nose and on the palate but with such juicy acidity. This is quite serious though, the fine but filling tannins have tension and give a sense of strictness to the palate which is nicely countered by the generous, fruity, juicy fruit profile. Well made, almost chewy but still cool and refreshing with blueberries, graphite, liquorice and tobacco edges. Nice and easy, but still intense with depth and cool minerality on the finish. 92 IPT. 3.73pH. Ageing 16 months, 65% new oak.
Barrel Sample: 93 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Haut-Batailley exhibits rich aromas of cherry preserve, jammy berries and creamy new oak, followed by a medium to full-bodied, ripe and extracted palate that's chunky and muscular, concluding with a vanillin-inflected finish. Rating:-91+
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.