Château Batailley 2019

In an appellation known as the most expensive on the Left Bank, Château Batailley is that rarest of treasures: a classic, consistently excellent Grand 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. 2019 is a very good vintage, even finer to many than the powerful 2018s. Judging by the 95-96 score for this wine, that's very true.