Haut-Batailley Pauillac 2012

92 points Neal Martin (Wine Advocate): "Tasted at a vertical tasting at the château. The 2012 Haut Batailley has a superior bouquet to the 2011, with more complexity and mineralité, crushed stone intermingling with copious black fruit all with exquisite delineation and focus. There is a strictness here, perhaps borrowed from its half-brother, Grand Puy-Lacoste. The palate is medium-bodied with fine definition and focus. There is still some oak to be absorbed but there is plenty of substance on the stylish, sweet finish that is very seductive. This is an excellent wine from François-Xavier Borie, dare I say up there with the 2009 and 2010. It comes highly recommended. Tasted July 2016. Drink: 2020-2045. (Jun 2017)"

92 points Robert Parker: "Long owned by Xavier Borie, this Pauillac estate sits next to Batailley and is just south of Borie’s other famous château, Grand-Puy-Lacoste. The 2012, dramatically better from bottle than barrel, is bigger boned, richer and more flamboyant than this wine normally tends to be. The color is a healthy purple, and the wine offers plenty of cassis and licorice as well as a touch of incense. The oak from barrel-aging 18 months is largely obscured. Medium to full-bodied and impressively endowed, it comes off like a hypothetic blend of a St.-Julien and Pauillac, but this is a classic 2012 that is full, rich and impressive, with beautifully sweet tannins. Drink it over the next 20 years. Drink: 2015-2035. (Apr 2015)"

91 points Falstaff Guide (2/13/15).

91 points Neal Martin (Vinous): "The 2012 Haut-Batailley has a perfumed and floral bouquet, showing much more Pauillac typicity than Duhart-Milon, quite fresh and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, fine acidity, good grip and quite ferrous. Perhaps there is a touch of austerity on the finish, but it is drinking well now. Tasted blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting. Drink: 2023-2037. (Sep 2022)"

90 points Michael Schuster (The World of Fine Wine): "Dense, fine, aromatic, gently minerally, very faintly leafy nose; medium-full, fresh, finely tannic; light and brisk in Cabernet flavor, quite firm in tannin texture, with both complexity and length; gently firm, flavorsome Pauillac with both finesse and length, needing a few years. 2020–30+. (Dec 2016)"