Domaine de Chevalier, Batailley
The precedent set by Pontet-Canet last week seems to have gained traction. The quality is high, the prices are about right, and the wines are available. This doesn't happen often. Hopefully, peer pressure will keep the major chateaux releasing at more than 20% below last year's opening prices, especially as we anticipate the appearance of some of the biggest names next week.
Meanwhile, this morning has seen the release of two of our favourite chateaux. The Casteja family's Batailley has long been considered a dependable, old school Pauillac, savoury and muscular in style. And so it remains; but recent years have also seen it graced with more modern finesse. A new cellar in 2006 and then the introduction of a second wine in 2015 both saw quality jump here. 2019 saw warm, dry conditions through most of the season, and a very fine harvest; in the cellar, fermentation was kept cool and pumpover managed very gently to achieve finer tannins than ever. Jane Anson captures Batailley's Pauillac character neatly: 'slate, pencil lead and menthol against the beautiful rich cassis'.
Also today, Olivier Bernard's Domaine de Chevalier, a property he's been lovingly tending since his family bought it in 1983. The vines he replanted early in his tenure are now in full maturity and perhaps partly as a result, recent years have seen a succession of lovely vintages. Given the hot early season, Olivier expected his 2019 to be bigger and warmer, but the relatively cool August shows through; 2019 Domaine de Chevalier is defined by its fresh, lifting acidity. /NT
View all wines released so far
Offered subject to confirmation; for shipment 2022
