Château Batailley

The château

Batailley takes its name from a battle of the Hundred Years War, fought in 1453 on the plateau that rises toward Château Latour. Vines came in the 17th century; the house, 15th century at its core, was remodeled in the 18th, and in the 1860s Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps laid out the 6 hectares of park around it. The owners read like a short history of the Bordeaux trade: Guillaume Pécholier, a merchant, in 1791; Daniel Guestier, of Barton & Guestier, in 1816, who enlarged the vineyard; the Parisian banker Constant Halphen in 1866; and in 1924 the brothers Marcel and Francis Borie. They split it in 1941, Francis taking what became Haut-Batailley and Marcel keeping Batailley. Denise Borie inherited it in 1961 and her husband, Émile Castéja, ran it for 40 years; their son Philippe Castéja holds it today with the family.

The vines stand on deep Günz gravel mixed with silica and sand at the southwestern tip of Pauillac, 8,500 to the hectare and 40 years old on average: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot. The vat house was rebuilt in 2006 to make the wine plot by plot, in vats of 100 to 130 hectoliters, and the wine spends at least 12 months in French oak, 60% of it new. Denis Dubourdieu advised here from 2001 until his death in 2016, and his associates Valérie Lavigne and Axel Marchal carry the work on; Didier Chadourne has been technical manager since 2013.

Batailley has never been a showy wine. What it does, vintage after vintage, is age. I have tasted the 2005 2 times, in October 2025 and again in September 2026, and it keeps doing the same strange and wonderful thing: it tastes younger than it is, dark fruit, cedar and herbs still reaching forward while the dried fruit glances back.

At a glance

Appellation

Pauillac

Classification

Cinquième Cru Classé 1855

Owners

The Borie-Castéja family, since 1924

Direction

Philippe Castéja; Didier Chadourne, technical manager, since 2013

Consultants

Denis Dubourdieu, 2001 to 2016; then Valérie Lavigne and Axel Marchal

Vineyard

The southwestern tip of Pauillac; vines 40 years old on average; 8,500 vines a hectare

Soil

Deep Günz gravel with silica and sand Terroir of Pauillac →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 70%, Merlot 25%, Cabernet Franc 3%, Petit Verdot 2%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3

Cellar

Plot by plot since 2006; at least 12 months in French oak, 60% new

Wines

Château Batailley; Lions de Batailley; Pauillac de Batailley

The park

6 hectares laid out in the 1860s by Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps