2021 Haut Batailley

Much more Cabernet Sauvignon-based, the 2021 Château Haut-Batailley is straight and focused, with textbook Pauillac graphite, lead pencil, and tobacco notes as well as beautiful fruit, medium body, ripe yet certainly present tannins, and a great finish. It shows the elegant, seamless style of the vintage and brings enough concentration and structure to benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and shine over the following 15+.

Bottled at the end of May, the 2021 Haut-Batailley has a well-defined bouquet with briny, seaweed-infused black fruit, certainly demonstrating more concentration and cohesion compared to the Verso at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. Fresh and focused, touches of cassis infuse the black fruit with impressive grip, classic in style with a sapid, black olive-tinged finish. Very fine.

The 2021 Haut-Batailley shows an estate in evolution. Aromatic and medium in body, the 2021 is not quite as bombastic as some previous editions, which is a positive. Savory, earthy and expressive, the 2021 also feels a bit closed at this stage. This is a super-classy and refined Pauillac.