2022 | Château Haut-Batailley Verso | Pauillac | France

The second wine of a Pauillac Fifth Growth — 93 points, Lynch-Bages-run, from the great 2022 vintage.

Verso is the second wine of Château Haut-Batailley, a Pauillac Fifth Growth now run by the Cazes family of Lynch-Bages. The 2022 — a rich, classic vintage — blends 54% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Petit Verdot into a floral, deeply fruited Pauillac that critics loved: Jeb Dunnuck gave it 93 points.

A 93-point second wine of a classified Pauillac is textbook Bordeaux value. Fifth Growth pedigree, Lynch-Bages team, 2022, 93 pts → the grand vin costs far more → you're drinking real Pauillac at a fraction.

• 54% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot
• Pauillac — Bordeaux, France
• Château Haut-Batailley — Fifth Growth, Cazes/Lynch-Bages
• 93 pts Jeb Dunnuck · classic 2022 vintage

Black raspberry and cassis over violet, cedar and spicy wood with a rounded, layered mouthfeel and a great finish. Translation: a floral, generous Pauillac — dark berry fruit, violet and spice with a layered, rounded palate. Approachable now, with the structure to develop over a decade.

A 93-point classified-estate Pauillac at second-wine value. Exactly the Bordeaux for a roast or a few years in the cellar.