Chateau Haut-Batailley "Verso" Pauillac

Dark and milk chocolate aromas around sweet, fragrant black fruits. Plush tannins, soft but with good texture. Cooling blue fruits on the palate, coffee bean freshness giving a spicy touch. Nice combination that really works here. It's got a lot going on and is not on the fruit nor spicy side, just all melded together with an undercurrent of acidity that gives it life.

The 2019 Verso de Haut-Batailley, which I did not taste last year, has a perfumed bouquet of mint-tinged black fruit and a touch of graphite in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with pencil lead notes on the entry. This Deuxième Vin is endowed with splendid concentration. Classic in style, with just a touch of black pepper toward the finish. Well worth seeking out.