Chateau Haut-Batailley 5eme Cru Classe, Pauillac 2019

Plenty of blueberry and chocolate aromas and flavors. It’s full and chewy with a powerful finish. Tar and graphite at the end. Solid core of fruit and tannin here. One of the most structured I have had from here. Cazes family making the difference.

Slightly darker fruited and denser than the more ethereally styled 2018, the 2019 Château Haut-Batailley offers up a gorgeous array of red and black currants, black raspberries, tobacco, and flowers, with more classic lead pencil and tobacco notes emerging with time in the glass. Balanced, medium to full-bodied, and concentrated, it has ripe, supple tannins, terrific mid-palate density, and a great finish. The quality continues to soar at this estate under the helm of the Cazes family and this is a gem of a Pauillac well worth seeking out. Give it a few years and enjoy over the following two decades.

The 2019 Haut-Batailley has a precise and quite understated bouquet with mineral-rich black fruit, cedar and mint, just a very slight floral note developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with graphite infused black fruit, classic in style, very well balanced with wonderful tension. It fans out effortlessly on the finish. Superb. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

The 2019 Haut-Batailley is a potent, muscular Pauillac that will need a few years in bottle, at a minimum, to be at its best. There's real presence and depth here, but all the wine's energy feels like it is focused inward. Dark red/purplish fruit, leather, menthol, spice and wild flowers fill out the layers as this broad, ample Pauillac shows off its distinctive personality. Readers should be in no rush.

The third vintage under the Cazes ownership, and happy to see that they maintain a style that is distinct from Lynch Bages, one than emphasizes the elegance that Cabernet Sauvignon can give over the power and concentration of Bages. This has a touch of rusticity on the tannins, with an unfussy elegance, some delicious juicy cassis fruits and a ton of Pauillac character.