Château Batailley 2017

In an appellation known as the most expensive on the Left Bank, Château Batailley is that rarest of treasures: a classic, consistently excellent Cru Classé Pauillac that delivers all the depth and flavour you’d expect of the appellation at a good value price. Especially when you compare it to the costs of its immediate neighbours. Sited on a deep gravel bed and named after a battle between the French and the English 600 years ago, Batailley has quietly made superb, dark, big-boned claret dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon for centuries. Always reliably good, in the last fifteen years quality has rocketed. The intensity and structure remain, but finesse and perfume have been added, particularly in a year like 2017, which is all about aromatics.