Chateau Haut-Batailley 2018
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Suckling
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Dunnuck
Jeb
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The blend of the 2018 vintage includes a higher proportion of Merlot than what has been used in previous vintages. The wines display great concentration and intensity alongside high alcohol. On the finish, seductive velvety elegance and freshness overlays an attractive weave of fine tannins.
Blend: 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
I can’t remember a Haut-Batailley this tannic, yet the tannins are savory and very ripe with beauty and purity. Full-bodied, chewy tannins and a long and intense finish.
Barrel Sample: 94-95 -
Wine Spectator
Juicy, fresh and nicely compact, with sleek iron along the edges of a core of steeped plum and cassis fruit flavors. Subtle tugs of savory, tobacco and cedar through the finish, with a last, lingering perfumed whiff of dark tea. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2024 through 2038.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is an open style that displays a black fruit flavor and soft tannins. Its berry flavors and ripe fruitiness are full integrated with the spice tone and bright acidity. Look for this wine to age well over the next 10 years.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Decanter
A big-shouldered and muscular wine. This shows a classic Pauillac signature with the full gamut of pencil lead, cigar box, curls of woodsmoke and floral edges. Very good-quality, sappy and juicy also, and will age. Has bedded in nicely over ageing. Drinking Window 2026 - 2038
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Blended of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon and 41% Merlot aging in 60% new barriques, the 2018 Haut Batailley is very deep purple-black in color and takes some coaxing to reveal profound notes of dark chocolate, crème de cassis, blueberry pie and anise with waves of raspberry pie, lavender and Indian spices. Full, very tightly would and jam-packed with layers of crunchy black and blue fruits, it has a firm line of ripe, grainy tannins and compelling freshness, finishing long with a mineral hint coming through.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship 2018 Château Haut-Batailley checks in 59% Cabernet Sauvignon and 41% Merlot that was brought up in 60% new French oak. It's another deeply hued, classic Pauillac in the vintage that has wonderful purity as well as loads of ripe blackberry and currant fruits, medium to full-bodied richness, beautiful aromas and flavors of graphite, cedarwood, and tobacco, building yet polished tannins, background oak, and a great finish. This pure, classic Pauillac needs 7-8 years of bottle age (it will certainly offer pleasure earlier) and will drink fabulously well for over two decades.
Other Vintages
2022-
Dunnuck
Jeb - Vinous
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Wine
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.