“Tasted at the Batailley vertical tasting at the château, the 1961 Batailley can be astonishing if you chance upon a tip-top bottle (cf. my tasting notes back in 2007). This was a good example but not in the same class as that. It commences well on the nose, still fresh and tensile with graphite infusing the black fruit that maybe do not have as much freshness and precision as an impeccable bottle might convey. The palate is medium-bodied with a fresh line of acidity, decayed red berry fruit, a touch of black cherry, cedar and truffle, with smoke toward the finish that is dense and solid. It is a very fine 1961 Left Bank that is probably overlooked, though this example just dipped before the finish line. Tasted April 2016.”
— Neal Martin, Jun 2017