Winemaker Notes
Domaine Etienne Sauzet Montrachet Grand Cru has an intense nose. On the palate, expansive and powerful candied pineapple fruit, fat with searing acidity which brings tears to the eyes. Amazing purity. Lovely.
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
A pure clear lemon colour. The extra weight of Montrachet is indeed apparent on the nose. Ripe pears. Perhaps this is a little less in the Sauzet style, not being from their own fruit, but it is impressive. The weight on the palate is profound, with certainly ripe fruit but also a point of minerality right in the middle, and good acidity. Almost a wine to eat rather than drink. It does indeed have the requisite very long finish. Drink from 2032-2045.
Barrel Sample: 95-98 -
Vinous
The 2022 Montrachet Grand Cru is habitually never the most expressive at this stage, eventually unfolding with green apples, freshly sliced pear and light flinty aromas. There is something a bit sultry about the aromatics. The palate is well-balanced with a fine bead of acidity, hints of orange pith and tangerine, and very fine depth with exquisite composure towards the finish. Long and sensual, this is a superb \"Monty\" from winemaker Benoît Riffault.
Barrel Sample: 96-98 -
Wine Spectator
Plump and buttery, this classy white exudes notes of white flowers, peach, spiced apple, lemon and toasty oak, balanced by bright acidity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Montrachet Grand Cru is seamless and complete, bursting with aromas of pear, peach and melon mingled with mint, white flowers and freshly baked bread. Full-bodied, ample and satiny, with a layered and enveloping core of fruit, it's an impressive effort produced from purchased must.
Barrel Sample: 93-95
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A Côte de Beaune village of Burgundy most famous for its beautifully textured and powerful whites, Chassagne-Montrachet reaches farthest south in the Côte d’Or, save for the village of Santenay. It has three Grands Crus vineyards: Le Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet and Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet. Le Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet overlap with and are (confusingly) shared with the village of Puligny-Montrachet. But Chassagne-Montrachet bears sole ownership of the Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru.
The beauty doesn’t stop there as the village has a great many outstanding Premiers Crus wines and village level wines. Most famous Premiers Crus vineyards include Les Chenevottes, Clos de la Maltroie, En Cailleret and Les Ruchottes. Also, village level wines offer many lovely examples of what Chassagne-Montrachet has to offer, but at more approachable price points and perhaps less demand of waiting.
The best sites in Chassagne-Montrachet have complex soils of sedimentary rock and limestone (with less marl). Whites, which are by law composed of 100% Chardonnay (as in all classified white Burgundy from Côte d’Or), have steely power, bright and concentrated citrus, stone or tropical fruit characteristics and attractive textures ranging from plush to tactile, grippy and mineral-driven.
There is some fine Pinot Noir produced from the village. These wines tend to be high-toned and earthy, with wild herb aromas and suave tannins.