Chateau Batailey 1985
Chateau Batailey 1985
Chateau Batailey 1985 Pauillac
Château Batailley is a well-regarded wine estate in the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux's northern Médoc region. The estate – one of the oldest in the area – was classified as a fifth growth in the 1855 classification of the Médoc and Graves.The wine has, for decades, had a reputation for good value, though recent years are widely judged to show ever greater finesse and complexity.
The property sits on a plateau to the west of Mouton-Rothschild and counts around 57 hectares (141 acres) of vineyard on deep gravel over clay and limestone subsoil. Roughly 70 percent is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, 25 percent to Merlot and the remainder to Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.
The grand vin is fermented in stainless steel tanks and aged for 16 to 18 months in French oak barrels, 55 percent of which are new. The second wine, Lions de Batailley (so-named after the stone lions that sit atop the gate posts of the château), is also Cabernet Sauvignon dominant, but with a higher portion of Merlot.
The name Batailley derives from a battle which took place on, or near to, the estate in 1452, during the Hundred Years' War. The first vines were planted not long afterwards.