The 2025 Haut-Batailley was picked between September 8 and 18, matured in 55% new oak. This has a more intense, bolder nose than the Verso, graphite-infused black fruit that is Pauillac through and through. Razor-sharp. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, but there is gentle and insistent grip. Sapid, an Haut Batailley that evokes images of the Gironde Estuary, this is a marvellous contribution to the vintage, perhaps the best under Jean-Charles Cazes. (NM)