2012 Château Batailley, Pauillac, Bordeaux

A full-bodied red with chewy and polished tannins, lots of ripe fruit and toasted oak, though this turns slightly lean on the finish. Needs two or three years to soften. Better in 2017james_suckling, jamessuckling_com (February 2015)

The 2012 Batailley has plenty of fruit on the nose: blackberry, raspberry, a touch of shoe leather and sage. The palate is medium-bodied with a slight bitterness on the entry, nicely balanced though, with cedar and tobacco infusing the black fruit with a touch more fruit on the finish compared to Haut-Batailley. It just needs more time in bottle.Drink 2023 - 2038Neil Martin, Vinous.com.com (September 2022)

From the famous chteau estate of the Castja family, the 2012 Batailley is a very strong effort. This is a big-time sleeper of the vintage. A dense purple wine with loads of crme de cassis, blueberry notes, background forest floor and cedar, this is a strong effort from Batailley and may well usher in a new era for this fifth-growth chateau that is capable of producing great wine. The tannins are sweet and the wine has an opulence and richness that is rare for a Mdoc in 2012. Drink it over the next 25 years.Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 30/04/2015

Dense colour, meaty, slightly gamey fruit, some spice and lift, quite open and forward.

Blackish purple. Unusually savoury – meat-extract notes. Interesting! Then sweet and voluptuous on the palate. Very different structure to the St-Juliens. Big and bold and makes a splash. I might have guessed a Pichon if they participated in the UGC blind tasting… Just cuts off a little suddenly on the finish. jancis_robinson_mw MW, JancisRobinson.com, 24 April 2013

A serious yet surprisingly precocious and supple-textured Pauillac, the dense ruby/purple-colored, medium to full-bodied 2012 Batailley exhibits sweet, nicely textured tannins along with plenty of black fruit, forest floor, underbrush and cedar characteristics. Ripe, fruity and exceptionally well-made, it will benefit from several years of cellaring, and can be drunk over the following 15 years. robert_parker - Wine Advocate #206 - Apr 2013

Linear and precise, with fine-grained chalky tannins, generous oak and complex flavours of dark fruits, leather, bitter chocolate and game. The power and weight of this wine leads straight to a Cru Classé from the Left Bank, and the polish is very Pauillac.Drink 2020 - 2030Natasha Hughes MW, Decanter.com