Haut-Batailley releases second label

Bordeaux fifth growth, Château Haut-Batailley, has announced the release of a new second label, ‘Verso’.

The first vintage of the new label is the 2017 and is being offered through négociants in La Place de Bordeaux and will retail for €25 a bottle.

The owners of the estate, the Cazes family, gave the grand vin a new label when they acquired the property in March 2017 and Verso ties in with the Gustave Doré lithograph-inspired imagery with sun bursting through clouds and a picture of the estate’s famous Tour l’Aspic sits on the back – ‘verso’/reverse – label just as it graces the front of the grand vin’s.

The Cazes family, which already owns Lynch-Bages, bought Haut-Batailley from the Brest-Borie family in 2017 and released the same vintage during the following year’s en primeur campaign.

The 2017 release, at €42 a bottle ex-négociant, was a clear step-up in price from previous vintages and indicated that the Cazes were seeking to reposition the estate under their management.

The introduction of a second label is no doubt an effort to underpin and maintain that higher price level, providing an outlet for the fruit from young vines or plots that don’t quite come up to full standard for the grand vin, while also allowing an entry into the estate’s portfolio.