Michael Schuster: A clear “pebbly” character and a very nice, gentle cassis on the nose—should make a lovely bouquet; beautifully balanced, fairly concentrated (for the cru) middleweight; an excellent balance of ripe fruit to fresh acidity, and gentle tannin; generous, harmonious, easy, classy expression of HB; long, ripe, gently dense, flowing cassis fruit, with dry Médoc gravel aromas and fine length. A most complete Haut-Batailley. 2014–24. 16/16+

Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve: Pretty notes of cedar. Less vinosity than most of the other fifth growths—the winemaker chose suppleness and pleasant fruit, but it doesn’t have the nobility and complexity of Pontet-Canet, which is made in a similar style. 16.5