Chateau Batailley 2016

JAMES SUCKLING: "Shows beautiful, ripe cabernet aromas with currants, plums, meat and smoke. Flowers, too. Full body, deep and ripe fruit and exquisite, ripe tannins. Flavorful finish. Tight right now, but shows excellent potential. Best ever. Try after 2024."

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "This wine shows all the power of the vintage, with rich tannins and sumptuous black-currant fruit. A lot of expensive work has gone into bringing this estate up to this level and this excellent bottling is the result. Drink the wine from 2025."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2016 Batailley is a blend of 12% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, 85% Cabernet Sauvignon cropped at 50h hectoliters per hectare. Matured in 60% new oak. It has an intense graphite infused bouquet with fine delineation, some freshly picked Pauillac mint coming through with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannin that grip the mouth insistently; with graphite and tobacco-infused black fruit dominating, this a classically styled Batailley in the vein of previous vintages with the elegance coming through towards the finish. This is one of those wines that grows on you, perhaps not as easy or as charming to taste as other Pauillac 2016s at this stage, but knowing this property well, I know how it can blossom when it matters, which is when you and I drink it."

VINUM: "Verführerische, vom Ausbau geprägte Aromatik von Gebäck und Beeren; dichter Bau, Tannin mit Rasse und Frische, kernig, nachhaltig, mit grossem Potential; ausgezeichnet gemacht."

DECANTER: "Upfront and confident on the attack, this shows a rich sweetness with cedar, damson and blackberry. It's big and weighty, and goes for impact - the oak is a little more evident than in some others. The acidity feels high at first, but it settles into itself. It's well-knitted with extremely impressive tannins - this needs time. Drinking Window 2025 - 2038"

FALSTAFF: "Dunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, dezente Randaufhellung, feine Anklänge von Dörrpflaumen, ein Hauch von Feigen und Tabak. Mittlere Komplexität, Nuancen von Brombeeren und Cassis, integrierte Tannine, etwas entwickelter, dezenter Nougat im Nachhall, ein charmanter Speisenbegleiter."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "If you like, and coax the glass just a but you can find cigar box, tobacco, truffle, smoke and blackberries. The wine is medium/full bodied with round tannins and a crispy bite of cassis in the almost creamy finish. Give the wine 7-10 years in the cellar for the Pauillac firmness to subside and ennjoy it over the following 2 decades or more. The wine was made from a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot."

WINE SPECTATOR: "This is a bit subtle and old-school in approach, with singed juniper and alder elements out front followed by perfumy, lightly mulled currant and cherry fruit flavors. The wood notes reemerge through the finish along with savory and sanguine threads. Will age well; for fans of the style. Best from 2024 through 2038."

WEINWISSER: "85 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 12 % Merlot, 3 % Petit Verdot, 50 hl/ ha. Granat mit rubinrotem Rand. Feinduftiges Himbeerbouquet, dahinter rote Johannisbeere und erkalteter Früchtetee, dann heller Tabak und ein Touch Milchkaffee. Am eleganten Gaumen mit feinstützendem Tannin und mit herrlicher Frische. Ein femininer Batailley mit rotbeerigem Finale – eine echte Pauillac-Delikatesse, die noch zulegen kann!"

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Tasted blind. Sweet and toasty nose. Charming but perhaps not the earthiest/funkiest. Very much a well-groomed wine. Some vitality but not a lot of concentration."

JEB DUNNUCK: "Slightly difficult to read, with a tight, closed style on the palate, the 2016 Château Batailley offers enjoyable dark fruits, leafy tobacco, new leather, and charred oak aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied, nicely balanced, and fresh, it needs to be forgotten for 3-4 years, at which point I suspect it will come closer to matching the barrel review and drink nicely for 10-15 years or more."