2016 Château Batailley, Pauillac, Bordeaux

Red
Dry
Full Bodied
Cabernet Sauvignon (85%), Merlot (12%), Petit Verdot (3%)

Ready - youthful (Drink 2022 - 2044)

Jancis Robinson MW: 17/20
Jeb Dunnuck: 90+/100
Neal Martin: 93/100
Jane Anson MW: 93/100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW: 94+/100
James Suckling: 96/100

Product: 20168003227

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Description

The 2016 Bordeaux vintage is a watershed year. It resembled the great vintages of the 1990s and 2000s before the run of fine but hot vintages began in 2018. Its sunny, warm days and cool nights recall the great years of 2005 and 2010.

The Batailley 2016 is just on the cusp before it moves into its richer, slightly savoury stage, which comes with some bottle age. Always an earnest and broad-shouldered wine, right now, the wine has a hint of mellow fruit alongside its classic cedarwood and cassis notes, and the palate is open-textured, flavoursome and rewarding, with smooth tannins and ample intensity and length. It’s a delicious wine now, although further ageing will open and soften it further.

Mark Pardoe MW, Wine Director, Berry Bros. & Rudd

Colour Red

Sweetness Dry

Vintage 2016

Alcohol % 13%

Maturity Ready - youthful (2022 - 2044)

Grape List Cabernet Sauvignon (85%), Merlot (12%), Petit Verdot (3%)

Body Full Bodied

Producer Château Batailley

Critics reviews

Jancis Robinson MW 17/20

Mid crimson. Fragrant and aromatic. Bright fruit with real life. A success and a wine that can already be broached. It had more transparency than the Giscours 2016 tasted immediately beforehand. Clean, fresh and approachable. Quite long, too.

Drink 2022 - 2040

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (Jun 2022)

Jeb Dunnuck 90+/100

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 flavours. 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.

Drink 2022 - 2037

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (Feb 2019)

Neal Martin 93/100

Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting.

The 2016 Batailley has an attractive, meaty bouquet with more red fruit than black, unlike many of its peers. With aeration it appears to gain more floral notes and lift. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, linear and focused, offering pencil lead, cedar and light spicy notes toward the conservative, controlled finish. A mocha-tinged aftertaste emanates from the oak. Good potential, but it needs time.

Drink 2022 - 2050

Neal Martin, Vinous.com (Jan 2020)

Jane Anson MW 93/100

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.

Drink 2025 - 2038

Jane Anson MW, Decanter.com (Oct 2018)

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW 94+/100

The 2016 Batailley is deep garnet-coloured. It rolls up with gregarious blackcurrant jelly, plum preserves, and cedar chest scents, plus touches of violets, dark chocolate, and graphite. The light to medium-bodied palate is bright, breezy, and refreshing. It delivers crunchy, youthful fruit and a firm, grainy frame, finishing on a lingering mineral note.

Drink 2022 - 2038

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, TheWineIndependent.com (Aug 2022)

James Suckling 96/100

Shows beautiful, ripe cabernet aromas with currants, plums, meat and smoke. Flowers, too. Full body, deep and ripe fruit and exquisite, ripe tannins. Flavourful finish. Tight right now, but shows excellent potential. Best ever.

Try after 2024

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (Jun 2021)

About this wine

Pauillac

The aristocrat of the Médoc boasts 75 percent of the region’s First Growths, with Grand Cru Classés representing 84 percent of production. Pauillac's First Growths each have their own unique characteristics: Ch. Lafite Rothschild produces the region’s most aromatically-complex and subtly-flavoured wine, while – with its high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon – Ch. Mouton Rothschild can produce a decadently rich, fleshy and exotic wine.

Find out more