CHÂTEAU HAUT BATAILLEY

Wild floral scents on the nose with dark berry fruit – blackcurrants and plums. Some tobacco and liquorice too. Plump, wide, round and so smooth, velvety, not fleshy but still well textured so there’s ripeness, grip but also a cooling freshness that really elongates the expression. Lovely purity and clarity. A joyful wine, really smiley, happy and yet not lacking in anything. A soft sweetness and high acidity touch to the fruit. Drinking range: 2030 - 2038 Rating: 94 Georgie Hindle - Decanter (May 2026)

Matured in 55% new barrels, the 2025 Haut-Batailley wafts from the glass with aromas of dark wild berries, spices, flowers and licorice, complemented by elegant notes of violet. Medium- to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it’s built around a fleshy core of fruit framed by velvety tannins, concluding with a long, spicy and taut finish. A very fine wine in the making, it expresses a classical Médoc profile, notably with a fresh, subtly mentholated note on the finish. It's a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot.
Haut-Batailley has moved steadily toward a more refined expression. The style has gained in definition and restraint, with each vintage marking a step forward. Year after year, the wines show a clearer articulation of freshness, supported by tannins that feel increasingly velvety and precise, without sacrificing the Pauillac frame.
In 2025, the estate delivers a particularly strong performance. The wines capture this ongoing evolution, combining freshness, control and textural finesse, confirming the qualitative progress achieved in recent vintages. Rating: 92-94 Yohan Castaing, www.robertparker.com (May 2026)

Good concentration, muscular but sappy texture, waves of liquorice, black chocolate, slow unrolling and depth, impressive. In this vintage, Haut-Batailley is less St Julien in Pauillac, and more squarely showcases the full character of the appellation. 3.7pH. 55% new oak. Harvest September 8 to 18. Drinking range: 2036 - 2055 Rating: 94 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (Apr 2026)

There's a lovely natural sweetness to this, evident aromatically; there's also a very classical Pauillac dose of cedar that intermingles so beautifully and beguilingly with the wild herbal notes and the dark berry fruits - mulberry, black berry with a little loganberry perhaps too (with more of the latter on the palate). Soft and caressing, this exudes harmony. It has a radiant plunge pool core, is luminous and crystalline and almost shimmering in its clarity. Excellent. Rating: 93-95 The Drinks Business (Apr 2026)