CHÂTEAU BATAILLEY
2016 5ème Cru Classé Pauillac
85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot. Tasted after d'Armailhac, and it's a broader, softer, blunter style, less focus, but more broad charm. Mouthfilling and satisfying, soft purple fruit and a bit of spice: really a very good wine. 2015 saw the creation of a second wine here ('Lions de Batailley'), and the selection has dramatically improved the quality of Batailley itself. Drinking range: 2024 - 2038 Rating: 91-93 L&S (Apr 2017)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
Muscular, austere quality to the tannins on the opening, but softens and opens to show creamy blackberry, damson and black cherry fruit, laced with crayon, graphite, salted cracker, cold ash. Mouthwatering with tension. Axel Marchal consultant from this vintage, with Valerie Lavigne, and from here on it is far more typical to see only Petit Verdot and not Cabernet Franc in the blend. Drinking range: 2026 - 2044 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (May 2026)
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. Drinking range: 2022 - 2050 Rating: 93+ Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Aug 2020)
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. Drinking range: 2022 - 2037 Rating: 90+ Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (Feb 2019)
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. Drinking range: 2022 - 2050 Rating: 93-95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 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. Drinking range: 2025 - 2043 Rating: 17+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2017)
Enticingly fresh, this is open-knit in feel, offering a pretty display of cherry paste and red currant preserve flavors. A twinge of warm earth on the finish keeps this grounded and adds some needed bass. Rating: 91-94 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2017)
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. Rating: 95-96 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 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 range: 2027 - 2045 Rating: 93 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2017)
Rating: 90 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2017)
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. Drinking range: 2022 - 2050 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 1899)
Château Batailley
Pauillac Cinquième cru 1855 The name "Batailley" appears to be derived from a battle that occured on the sight in 1453 during the Hundred Years War. During the early 19th Century, Batailley was owned by Daniel Guestier who did much to raise the reputation of the estate such that it was rated a 5th Growth in the 1855 classification. Batailley was purchased in 1932 by François and Marcel Borie who divided the estate between themselves in 1942, with François taking the half that became Haut Batailley and Marcel continuing as Batailley. Marcel's daughter married into the Castéja family, who own Batailley to this day. The two Batailleys are in the south of Pauillac, a little way inland from the Pichons. The 57ha of vines are planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Wines spend up to 18 months is wood, with 55% being new every year.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.