Chateau Batailley |
| Newstime：2009-08-26 06:52:58 Befrom： Writer： |
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History
Batailley is the larger sibling of neighbouring Haut-Batailley, the two estates having split in 1942. The name of the original Batailley estate suggests a military origin, a battle perhaps, and indeed this may be so. An alternative explanation concerns a local vigneron named Batailley, who was credited with planting the vineyards here, although the case for this is less robust. Whatever the explanation, by the end of the 18th Century there is a vineyard here named Batailley, one which was to give rise to the Batailley and Haut-Batailley that exist today.
At this time the vineyard was in the ownership of the Saint-Martin family, three siblings of whom two were of the cloth, one a nun and one a priest. Two of the three, the two sisters Marianne and Marthe, sold their portion of the estate to Jean Guillaume Pécholier in 1791.
From Pécholier it passed to his son, Amiral de Bédout, and following his death in 1816 the estate was sold by auction; it was purchased, not quite in its entirety, by Daniel Guestier of Barton & Guestier. He acquired most of the estate immediately, purchasing further shares and land, including plots adjacent to Lynch-Bages and Grand-Puy-Lacoste, later on. He was responsible for considerable investment in the property, renovating the chateau and improving the winemaking facilities. When he died in 1847 Batailley had garnered a good, although certainly not exalted, reputation, and the scene was set for the estate creeping in as a cinquième cru in the 1855 Classification of the Médoc.
The estate was inherited by Guestier's three children, divided rather unevenly with two daughters taking a quarter each and the son, Pierre-François, taking half. This state of affairs continued onto the next generation, each of the offspring of the two daughters taking on their quarter share respectively, but by 1866 the family decided to sell the estate, all involved relinquishing their respective shares, and it was acquired by a Parisian banker named Constant Halphen.
By this time the estate had expanded considerably, from the 39 hectares extolled by Guestier to a very respectable 55 hectares, and its reputation was largely maintained under Halphen, when the vineyards were tended by the brothers François and Marcel Borie.
Upon Halphen's death in 1932, the Borie brothers purchased the estate and continued to make the wine for another decade, before in 1942 it was divided into the two properties we know today as Batailley and Haut-Batailley. This was not the result of some convoluted family struggle, rather it was to stave off future difficulties with the inheritance of the estate.
François, who that year had purchased Ducru-Beaucaillou, kept the smaller part of the vineyard which, when augmented by some vines purchased from Duhart-Milon in 1951, became Haut-Batailley. The larger part, which came to Marcel, and which included the chateau, naturally kept the vineyard's original name of Batailley.
It is at this point, then, that the two properties go their own ways. At Batailley, Marcel continued to run the estate until he died in 1961, bequeathing the estate to his daughter Denise, and her husband Emile Castéja. The estate augmented the Castéja family's vineyard holdings quite nicely, a portfolio which now includes Beau-Site in St-Estèphe, Trottevieille in St-Emilion and nearby Lynch-Moussas in Pauillac. Today it is Philippe Castéja, Emile's son, who runs the show.
Nowaday's Owner: Philippe Castéja
Technique Information
Location: largely to the west of the D206 which runs southwest out of Pauillac
Appellation: Pauillac
Neighboring Chateau: Chateau Haut-Batailley(5th Growth of Pauillac in1855)
Acreage: 60 ha.
Soil: a typical terroir of gravel, over sandstone and clay
Grape Varieties: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot
Average age of vines: 30 years
Cultivation Density: 8000 vines/ha
Viticulture: mannal harvest
Winemaking: the fruit is destemmed, before temperature-controlled fermentation in the usual stainless steel. The malolactic occurs part in steel vat, part in oak, but all the wine is aged in oak for up to sixteen months, with the oak being 60% new each vintage. Once finished the wine is fined using egg white, and then bottled without fining or filtration.
Yield:
Brand: Chateau Batailley(First Label)(A.O.C. Pauillac)
Annually production: 22000 cases
Character:
The wines of Chateau Batailley are very classic in style. They are deeply coloured with a solid structure. Batailley always requires 5 to 10 years of patience before being able to appreciate its potential and elegance. Good Quality/Price wine.
Best Vintages: 2004, 2005
Awards: 5th Grand Cru Classe in 1855 Pauillac
Website: http://www.thewinedoctor.com/bordeaux/batailley.shtml
Serving Suggestion
Cellar Humidity and Temperature: 75-85%, 15 ℃
Serving Temperature: 17-19 ℃
Optimum drinking and ageing potential: 10-25 years
Food match:
Red meat, Red meat game, Foie gras, Mushroom dishes. Saint Nectaire, Edam, Gouda; This wine could serve with a succulent Fillet steak.
Next Chateau Pedesclaux
Pre Chateau Haut-Bages-Liberal
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