2015 Batailley

'This is a revitalized estate. Batailley bears semblances to Lynch Bages. Its quality has gone unrecognized for too long, too many equating its reasonable price with inferior quality vis-à-vis more expensive Pauillacs. A number of blind tastings have proven Batailley to be a vastly improved wine. I guess it takes time for reputation to catch up with intrinsic quality, but it will.' - Neal Martin, eRobertParker.com, 29 April 2016

Batailley is a stalwart of the Uncorked range. Ever a byword in dependability and value, father and son Philippe and Frederic Casteja have quietly been working at steadily improving the quality, though nothing has ever been too radical. Chaps don't really like change. But change they have, and 2015 sees the introduction of a second wine. 30% of the crop now makes up 'Lions de Batailley'. Frederic's rationale is that the stricter selection was the way to push Batailley to the next level. Of course, all this comes at a price. The 'new' Batailley is more expensive, but the pair's idea is that for the price of 12 old, you can now buy 6 Lions for early drinking and 6 of the much improved Batailley for keeping. All this does rather hinge on it being a decent step up in quality. Is it? We found a purity and brightness we wouldn't normally associate with this address. If you haven't tried Batailley for a while, you'll be surprised by recent vintages. As Neal Martin says, it's a vastly improved wine compared to those of the '80s and '90s. Is it worthy of its new price tag? I'm afraid it is. Very much so. /EE

Offered subject to remaining unsold; available 2018