Winemaker Notes
White chocolate nose. Candied licorice, lemon coated in sugar. Citric, powerful, massive, very masculine and mineral.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
More tightly wound than the Bienvenues, the 2019 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru unfurls in the glass with aromas of pear, confit citrus, fresh pastry, nutmeg, hazelnuts and beeswax, framed by a deft touch of youthful reduction. Full-bodied, deep and tensile, with huge levels of concentration and extract, it's layered and muscular, with a seamless, structured profile and a long, saline finish. Best after 2025. Rating: 95+
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Decanter
Produced from 65-year-old vines at the top of Bâtard just under Montrachet. After a gentle pressing and settling, the must is fermented in cask (30% new). Girardin managed to pick it below 14% potential alcohol in 2019 and the result has a very pleasant freshness, with ripe apple fruit, a bit of spice, and a gorgeous floral note. On the palate there is density and power, but the wine avoids heaviness and should age well.
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.