2016 Château Batailley, Pauillac, Bordeaux

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 - 2037jeb_dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (February 2019)

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. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting.Drink 2022 - 2050Neil Martin, Vinous.com.com (August 2020)

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 - 2038jane_anson_mw, Decanter.com (October 2018)

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.Neil Martin - 28/04/2017

A tunnel of tannins takes you right through the palate, but it is not fully walled in as with 2010, rather the tannins are pliable and the overall feeling is of well controlled fruit that deepens as you go along. The blend is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 12% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, and a pH of 3.6. Wonderfully deep fruit flavours of blackberry and crushed cassis reside against black chocolate and well contained tannins. A lovely vintage that has power but is just the right side of big extraction. Good persistency with a coffee-scented finish. This is a buy, for sure. Drinking Window 2027 - 2045. jane_anson_mw - Decanter.com - April 2017

Lifted, sweet and very Pauillac on the nose. Thick and sweet on the palate though – rather different from the nose. Pretty sharp on the palate with some overtones of the right bank even though the nose is pure Pauillac. Quite a dramatic play, this wine! Drama in spades. jancis_robinson_mw - 18th April 2017

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 - 2040jancis_robinson_mw MW, JancisRobinson.com (June 2022)

I thought the 2015 defined the new Batailley, but this is fantastic. Full-bodied and so tannic and powerful. Flavors of chocolate, coffee and spices. Excellent finish. Very muscular. Tight and precise. james_suckling - April 2017

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 2024james_suckling, jamessuckling_com (June 2021)