Winemaker Notes
An authentic masterpiece! This wine should be regarded as the yardstick by which all other Burgundies should be judged. The color has a splendid golden sheen. On the nose, a multitude of aromas are a pleasure to discover: floral notes of lily of the valley, peach blossom, exotic fruit, honey, grilled almonds, even exotic woods at times. On the palate, the structure is dominated by a harmonious roundness which never imparts any heaviness. The aftertaste is exceptionally long and enhances the finesse of the whole. A glorious symphony of sensations!
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The near-perfect nature to the nose suggests superb chardonnay. There’s a golden hue to the ripeness of the fruit, offering apple tart and fresh apples, together with undertones of stones, light vanilla and almonds. Medium-bodied with elegance and length, delivering energy and focus and subtle complexity. Hazelnuts and minerals at the end. Drink or hold.
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Jasper Morris
Glowing mid lemon. The nose is quite restrained. The majesty of the Montrachet builds slowly on the palate with a fine thread of acidity to keep the intensity of fruit in place. All in white fruit, much less exotic, not yet really showing all its paces, so expect much more from this later on in its life. The length shows that it will happen. Drink from 2033-2045.
Barrel Sample: 95-97 -
Decanter
Almost impossibly lush, with pronounced aromas of ripe melons and passionfruit, accented with notes of acacia flowers and butter. Despite the concentration of fruit aromas, the texture remains elegant and balanced. The grapes are from an enormous holding at the northern end of Montrachet, pressed as whole clusters and aged over two winters in cask (30% new); this was tasted out of a three-year-old cask. To judge from recent experience, it is best to leave this 20 years before opening, if one can wait.
Barrel Sample: 96 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche Grand Cru is a rich, lavish wine, bursting with aromas of honeyed pears, toasted nuts, baking spices, orange oil and white flowers. Full-bodied, broad and layered, it's satiny and seamless, with a deep core of fruit and a long, sapid finish.
Barrel Sample: 93-96
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 source of some of the finest, juicy, silky and elegantly floral Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet lies just to the north of Chassagne-Montrachet, a village with which it shares two of its Grands Crus vineyards: Le Montrachet itself and Bâtard-Montrachet. Its other two, which it owns in their entirety, are Chevalier-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. And still, some of the finest white Burgundy wines come from the prized Premiers Crus vineyards of Puligny-Montrachet. To name a few, Les Pucelles, Le Clavoillon, Les Perrières, Les Referts and Les Combettes, as well as the rest, lie northeast and up slope from the Grands Crus.
Farther to the southeast are village level whites and the hamlet of Blagny where Pinot Noir grows best and has achieved Premier Cru status.