CHATEAU HAUT-BATAILLEY PAUILLAC 'VERSO' 2017

The Borie family — through François-Xavier Borie, who also runs Grand-Puy-Lacoste — has long maintained Haut-Batailley as a quietly precise Pauillac. Verso is the estate's second wine, drawing from 22 hectares of gravelly soils in Pauillac's southern sector, where the Gironde estuary moderates the climate. The 2017 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc delivers red cherry, cranberry, and cassis with graphite minerality underneath. Oak aging adds cedar and fine vanilla without overriding the fruit, and the tannins are fine-grained enough to make this approachable now.