Appellations

Haut Batailley 2020

Pauillac, Fifth Growth

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Tasting Notes

The 2020 Haut-Batailley is a huge, somber Pauillac, just as it was from barrel. Huge swaths of tannin wrap around a core of black fruit, gravel, incense, tobacco, smoke, cured meats and charcoal embers. Readers will have to be patient. I imagine the 2020 will always be a big, virile wine, certainly more about power than finesse.

Score: 93 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026-2040 Date: 23 February 2023

The 2020 Haut-Batailley is a powerful, brooding Pauillac. Black fruit, grilled herbs, menthol, licorice, smoke, dried flowers and leather add to the wine's virile feel. Here, too, the tannins are pretty imposing. It will be interesting to see what time brings.

Score: 91 - 93 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2028 - 2045 Date: 03 June 2021

The 2020 Haut-Batailley is a powerful, brooding Pauillac. Black fruit, grilled herbs, menthol, licorice, smoke, dried flowers and leather add to the wine's virile feel. Here, too, the tannins are pretty imposing. It will be interesting to see what time brings.

Score: 91 - 93 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2028-2045 Date: 01 June 2021

The 2020 Haut-Batailley, matured in 60% new oak for 14 months, has a vivacious nose with mint-infused blackberry and raspberry fruit, a light pencil lead note underneath. Certainly one of the more intense aromatics in Pauillac with disarming purity. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins and a wonderful bead of acidity keeping it tensile throughout. There's a sweet core of plummy fruit, hints of orange rind towards the finish that contains plenty of energy. Excellent.

Score: 94 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2028-2048 Date: 08 February 2023

The 2020 Haut-Batailley was opened for a good hour before I commenced penning my note. This will be matured for 14 months in 60% new oak. It gently unfolds in the glass to reveal blackberry, faint sea spray scents (a whiff of the old Gironde estuary) and just a touch of crushed stone. This is well defined though not powerful. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins on the entry that frame the bright blackberry and raspberry fruit. This Pauillac conveys superb energy, especially toward the Japanese nori-infused finish, awakening and revivifying the senses. It is a classically sculpted and very harmonious Haut-Batailley that will give 25–30 years of drinking pleasure, but should be cellared for 5–6 years.

Score: 92 - 94 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: Martin 2028 - 2048 Date: 27 May 2021

The 2020 Haut-Batailley was opened for a good hour before I commenced penning my note. This will be matured for 14 months in 60% new oak. It gently unfolds in the glass to reveal blackberry, faint sea spray scents (a whiff of the old Gironde estuary) and just a touch of crushed stone. This is well defined though not powerful. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins on the entry that frame the bright blackberry and raspberry fruit. This Pauillac conveys superb energy, especially toward the Japanese nori-infused finish, awakening and revivifying the senses. It is a classically sculpted and very harmonious Haut-Batailley that will give 25–30 years of drinking pleasure, but should be cellared for 5–6 years.

Score: 92 - 94 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2028-2048 Date: 01 May 2021

Also made in a more medium-bodied, elegant style, the Grand Vin 2020 Château Haut-Batailley offers a beautiful perfume of both black cherry and darker berry fruits as well as classic Pauillac cedar, chocolate, and leafy herb-like aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied, beautifully balanced, and seamless on the palate, they’ve done a wonderful job with the tannins, the purity of fruit is spot-on, and this will certainly be an impressive Pauillac, with 20-25 years of prime drinking ahead of it.

Score: 92 - 94 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Date: 25 May 2021

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.

Score: 94 - 95 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Date: 23 May 2021

A blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon and 38% Merlot aging in French oak barriques, 60% new, the 2020 Haut-Batailley weighs in with 13.6% alcohol, a pH of 3.85 and an IPT of 81. Deep purple-black in color, it opens with seducing, beautifully pure notes of blackcurrant jelly, juicy blackberries and warm plums, plus hints of chocolate mint, lilacs and forest floor with a touch of ground cloves. The refreshing, medium-bodied palate gives a great burst of crunchy black berries, framed by finely grained tannins, finishing with a minty lift.

Score: 92 - 94 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2025 - 2042 Date: 21 May 2021

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. Harvest from September 14 to 29. 3.85pH, 60% new oak, for 14 months. The Cazes family has almost doubled the size of the vineyard since taking over, up to 39ha.

Score: 93 Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2024 - 2037 Date: 18 May 2021

Full bottle 1,345 g. Cask sample taken 16 April. 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot. Merlot was picked 14 to 18 September and Cabernet 22 to 29 September. Three successive triages. 14 months' ageing in barrel (60% new) envisaged. Deep purple. Intense, savoury nose and silky-soft tannins. Classic modern Pauillac from a ripe vintage – which is to say that it is definitely sweeter than 'usual', whatever that is. (I wonder whether, now that the Cazes family own this property as well as Lynch-Bages, they feel a sense of competition between these two wines?) Not dense but beautifully textured with good freshness.

Score: 17 Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Date: 08 May 2021