Ch�teau Haut-Batailley Ch�teau Haut-Batailley

Tous les voyants étaient au vert, niveau bas goulot, bouchon encore souple de très belle qualité mais cela n'aura pas suffit. La bouche avait encore de belles qualités mais l'aromatique était vraiment trop monocorde sur le vieux bordeaux sans magie pour prendre un vrai plaisir. Dommage, dommage !

1966 vintage

Had this with Christmas Dinner. Really nice wine. Unbelievable how well it looked and performed for a nearly 60 year old wine. Fruit was minimal at this stage. Tannins mostly resolved but still a little silky. Tertiary notes take over. Wet leaves, forest floor, some tobacco, little coffee. The biggest issue i felt is it has fallen a little out of balance where the alcohol feels more dominate than it should. This is because of the muted fruit and tannins. …

1966 vintage

Black cherry, blood orange, campfire, cocoa. Long and complex. Really beautiful wine (double decanted at 3 PM, continues to evolve in glass). A-

1966 vintage

Haut-Baillys (Balvenera) : Flat out amazing. So graceful and elegant - there's a quiet understated character to the flavours, that old wine sweetness on the palate, but the red and dark fruit here is still quite fresh and comes together seamlessly with an array of developed earthy, smoky, herbal, and various other tertiary flavours.

1966 vintage

Very nice. Floral nose, some violet? In the palate, a certain sweetness not unlike vanilla chestnuts. Hazelnuts, chocolate.

1966 vintage

Tasted double blind. This was a chameleon of a wine, initially burdened by an unclean, cellar stink that took a long time to dissipate. However, with patience, its beauty gradually emerged. Over time, it became younger and more exciting, though it never felt fully complete. It leaned more towards an intellectual rather than a hedonistic feast. TN: For the first three hours, the wine was undrinkable due to strong TCA notes, which eventually revealed themselves as moldy cellar notes that …

1966 vintage

Double-decanted which worked, but with hindsight would even go for a brief 30-60min in the carafe. Broad base of aging notes, leaning towards Cognac, but also unfortunately quite a bit of cellar (majority in the group called out cork even) must and only minor dried red berry fruit. While in the background, the fruit still has a nice brightness to it. The palate is thinning out no doubt, but has sufficient structure left. Malty notes add a textural component. This …

1966 vintage

Happy birthday mac! From a split, the cork had almost fallen into the bottle and a mid shoulder fill. Was dubious, but after 20-30 min decanted into a glass it opened up beautifully with a soft tobacco nose and a bright currant and smoke pallate. Obviously we�ll past it�s prime but the old wine still has some magic.

1966 vintage

Another brilliant bottle of this, if not quite the 95+ pt version from last year. Sensational, complex, exotic nose with baking spices, old black tea, scented candles, super minty, sous bois and leather, tomato leaf, and some green pepper. Like Ted said, the palate isn't on par with the bouquet as it lacks a little energy and is diffuse, but still silky and food friendly. This version is probably like a 93 pt wine tonight, but still so lovely and …

1966 vintage

While not up to the bottle a year ago, this is still a classy old Bordeaux. Aromatically it's almost as good as it gets; capsicum, dried mint, cigars, chocolate, black tea, cooked plum, and a little stewed tomato, just funky, wild and wonderful. The palate doesn't quite live up to the promise of the nose but it's very tender (maybe even a little too soft), old tobacco, cedar, earth, essentially no fruit left, tastes like an antique shop. A very …

1966 vintage

Green pepper, earth, funk, tobacco and dark fruit. Not as clean as the 34 or 78. Still very fresh for its age.

1966 vintage

Nez immédiatement séduisant dans un registre fumé : paprika, poivron rouge, pierre chaude, thé noir fumé, poivre noir avec également un peu de cuir. Très beau même si ce n'est pas le plus beau nez de bordeaux évolué que j'ai pu croiser. Il a tenu la note pendant une bonne heure à partir du premier service avec un pic durant les premières 30 min Bouche très agréable, sphérique, sans aspérité avec une matière de densité moyenne très plaisante, élégante. Cet …

1966 vintage

Depressed cork, stained label. I thought maybe some signs of seepage, but the ullage was near perfect with a base neck fill. Removed the cork with a Durand, and it didn’t break at all. The color was excellent for 53 year old wine. Stilll red with just some bricking. No brown. Nose was sweet caramel, cigar box, and muted raspberry. The mouth feel was pleasant. It was quite smooth. There was great balanced acidity and a faint call from tannins …

1966 vintage

A favorite chateau for me and one that needs considerable bottle age (at least the older vintages) to peak - the label on this bottle was mildewed, but the cork and fill were excellent, medium garnet on decanting this seemed a little soft and I put it back in the cleaned bottle to take to dinner thinking it might not need much more air. Approximately 2 hours later it was poured and had stiffened up a bit. Lots of tar …

1966 vintage

Bordeaux 10th Anniversary WIMPS (La Trompette, London) : Mid garnet. Lovely mature claret nose. Mellow, slightly savoury. Good acidity, relatively light. Some flavour here. Mellow cigar box starting to emerge with air. This has survived nicely and makes for a pleasant drink. (*)**1/2

1966 vintage

Nose: Expressive and perfumed for Pauillac with graphite, cedar, cherry and some lingering cassis/currant notes. Palate: Lighter bodied as one might expect at this age, but good balance held by the high acidity and surprising structure of the wine. Morello cherry, blackberry, graphite, cedar and some sweet spice notes. Finish: Nice and full early on, but after about 2 hours the acidity in the finish made this a bit tart. Overall another really nice 1966. This is extremely satisfying right …

1966 vintage

Mostly 1966 Bordeaux and other surprises (Ripple Restaurant in Washington D.C.) : When it comes to such old wines, we can only talk of great bottles - to some extent. Certainly 1966, my birth year, will be visited loads in 2016 :-). I love Haut Bailly as a producer of refined Graves yet this comes from another era, albeit related to the current one. In 1955, after a string of apparently poorly managed vintages, Belgian wine merchant Daniel Sanders bought …

1966 vintage

66 Bordeaux dinner (Ripple Restaurant in DC) : A slight hint of VA and Brett which is not bothersome. Mostly faded fruit, a hint of cassis, bell pepper, spearmint, cedar, smoke, wet sox/dirty damp cellar and earth. Medium concentration, lean and green, strong mineral presence and clips finish with bitter finish. My guess is that this was picked early and at relatively high yield. Also the cellar condition wasn’t very good. Need a simple hearty dish or fat steak to …

1966 vintage

Derni�re bouteille... Je l'ai gard�e comme derni�re sur la base de son niveau (goulot entier !!) et de la capsule, rigide et absolument pas "renfonc�e". Ce f�t un bon choix, c'est la meilleure des 6 bouteilles que j'ai eues. C�dre, fum�e, mine de crayon, la quintessence de Pauillac. N'est pas sans rappeler un Latour 1983 bu plus t�t cette ann�e (...). Double d�cantation, 45 minutes d'attente - n�cessaires - et encore une fois ce f�t m�morable. Voir mes notes pr�c�dentes …

1966 vintage

Le bouchon �tait si facile � extraire que s'en �tait inqui�tant... Surprise : excellente bouteille, encore une fois. Du fruit, du cuir, de la fum�e - consistante avec mes autres bouteilles, cette avant-derni�re f�t excellente, et bonne d�s l'ouverture; elle s'est bien exprim�e sur deux heures, apr�s une double-d�cantation de 45 minutes. Couleur un peu plus brunes que les bouteilles pr�c�dentes. Larmes lentes et grasses... Encore une fois spectaculaire sur un tartare de bœuf � l'ail noir. Il m'en reste …

1966 vintage

encore meilleure que la pr�c�dente avec un nez de fruits rouges, de cerise et encore une fois de fum�e; un peu de sirop pour la toux aussi. Spectaculaire avec un magret de canard. 92+

1966 vintage

Belle couleur grenat, robe �tonnante. Double d�cantation (une heure). Effluves de prune, de fum�e, de cassis. Go�t de fruits rouges confits. Sublime avec un tartare de bœuf ! Une belle surprise - et une bonne nouvelle puisqu'il m'en reste deux � boire !

1966 vintage

The 1966 Haut-Batailley is a glorious claret at peak maturity, bursting from the glass with a bouquet of cedar, dried berries, and remarkably pure and transparent gravely soil tones with subtle nuances of graphite. The high tannins and acids of the '66 vintage have mellowed and integrated perfectly, and the wine's structure lends it surprising volume in the mouth. This was singing after a few hours in the decanter, and ranks as one of the best expressions of Haut-Batailley I …

1966 vintage

A beautiful dark ruby in the glass with just the tiniest bit of bricking at the rim. Nose of canned tomatoes, especially the metalic tinny quality of canned tomatoes, a little prune, and a little fig. Wow. Silky smooth on the palate. There's a beautiful level of acid that lends this 48 year old wine a real juicy character. Well integrated tannins lead to a fine powdery and lacey finish. There is still a lot of fruit present. Though the …

1966 vintage

Has held up very well over the years, great balance and still much life in it

1966 vintage

1000th Tasting Note (Coventry) : High shoulder. A medium-intensity nose on open became quite pronounced with an hour decant. A textbook Pauillac nose: primarily pencil lead, some cedar and tobacco. Very light, silky mouthfeel, with only a hint of tannin, medium(-) acid, very low alcohol. Sour cherry and graphite on the palate. Classic Pauillac. Fairly short finish. Still kicking and quite nice.

1966 vintage

At full maturity, and drinking very nicely right now. Classic Pauillac aromatics of graphite, cedar wood, tobacco and gentle red fruited flavours that are echoed on the palate, and a very polished, refined texture with the structure fully integrated.

1966 vintage

Burgundy v Bordeaux - Cellartracker (La Trompette, W4) : Medium dark red with good bricking visible in the glass. A lovely nose of forest fruits. Is this 50 years old?? Really?? Hard to believe this wine has lasted so well. Wonderful.

1966 vintage

Bottle, fill and cork all excellent. I have had this wine several times and am always pleased. Classic claret that has plenty of life left. Better than the 1966 Cos on this night and an excellent wine for rack of lamb with Gruyere gratin.

1966 vintage

A truly memorable bottle. Classic mature Graves, elegant HB style, tobacco, olive, amazing balance and poise. Class.

1966 vintage

Different source than my previous bottle. This one was opened two hours before consuming. Aromas are soft and elegant, with some nice spicy mushrooms, dust and earth. Light berries poking through. As it touches the tongue flavors are very bright and healthy red fruited, like a freshly picked strawberry from an old growth forest, not the stuff from the market. Nice dusty tannins and mushroomy earthiness throughout this nice fruit balance. Still plenty of tannins on the finish, and after …

1966 vintage

My last bottle and still drinking beautifully. There's a wonderful fragrance straight away with that classic Graves earthy/smoky savouriness combining with sweeter red fruited elements and mature cedary notes, and with air it keeps building and gaining more depth. There's a lovely silken mouthfeel with structure fully integrated, and superb balance.

1966 vintage

Not quite on the level of the last bottle I opened, but still very pleasurable with mature, savoury red fruits framed by developed smoky, earthy and dried tobacco flavours. It's very gentle in the mouth with the tannins fully resolved and a silken palate presence, conveying flavour with a delicate touch and barely any sense of weight. Very nice.

1966 vintage

HDH auction tasting at Tru; 5/11/2012-5/12/2012 (Chicago, IL) : From the Clarence Day cellar. Surprisingly not excessively tertiary. Spicy nose with notes of cough syrup, black cherries, and cedar. On the palate, there doesn't seem to be much left, A little dried out, there isn't much fruit left, and there are a lot of rust flavours. Tannins are obviously gone. Like a very interesting yet homely girl.

1966 vintage

Very tertiary at first, all smoke, tobacco, leather and savoury tarry flavours that smell more like an old Barolo. Over a few hours in the decanter the fruit emerges and it gains more depth and nuance, all the while maintaining an ethereal, finessed palate presence. Wonderful wine that's still drinking very well now, though I'll open my other bottles soon.

1966 vintage

Fill into the neck, such a good fill for a 45-year-old bottle that I was making jokes about reconditioning and fraud. This was an old 'un but a good 'un. Classic old cabernet nose showing mainly sweet tobacco and earth, with lots of herbal (think thyme and rosemary) nuances giving freshness and a touch of brown sugar. With a bit of air some pretty redcurrant fruit makes an appearance. The tannin is almost totally resolved, and the wine is smooth …

1966 vintage

Urrbody in the club bring a Bordeaux varietal (Le Montmartre Bistro, London) : Very well-stored bottle. Outstanding and near peak. Sweet and even a bit ripe dark fruit. Tobacco smoke. Savory texture. Tannins gone. Not quite as much complexity as I'd hoped, but satisfying all the same.

1966 vintage

Een wijn uit mijn geboortejaar. Ook deze nog prima drinkbaar.

1966 vintage

It showed very well, IMO. Deep fruit with some stewed prune components and prominent cedar.

1966 vintage

Grossie opened this bottle at his house yesterday. He bought it at auction recently. It had been stored in a passive cellar. Medium to light red color with a little bricking around the edges. The cork was completely saturated with mold under the capsule but it came out in one piece. The nose of this wine was filled with soy and musty/wet basement. It had a good amount of fruit for being 39 years old. Notes of leather, stewed red …

1966 vintage

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