2009 Le Montrachet

The 2009 Montrachet is subtle at first, the bursts onto the palate with wonderfully detailed, nuanced fruit. Soft and supple through to the finish, Girardin’s Montrachet shows gorgeous finesse to match its understated personality. The refined finish leaves a lasting impression. Girardin’s parcel in Montrachet and Chevalier-Montrachet are just a few meters apart, yet the wines are totally different. Anticipated maturity: 2014+. Vincent Girardin is among the producers who have made the most dramatic changes in response to the issue of premature oxidation. Girardin has increased the amount of time his wines spend on their lees, has lowered new oak, has eliminated batonnage and has basically re-built his entire approach from the bottom up, which I have to say, is quite impressive. The 2009s were harvested beginning on September 15, with natural alcohols in the 12.5-13% range. The wines were bottled between mid-March and mid-May 2011. Today the 2009s are quite fresh and still showing some of the effects of their recent bottling. It is safe to say the wines Girardin is making today are quite different from those of the past. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802

Hazy pale yellow. Clove, menthol and iodine on the nose, along with a strong element of spicy oak; comes across as more exotic than the Chevalier-Montrachet. Then drier and less showy on the palate, with a distinctly chewy quality to the cooler citrus and mineral flavors. In a rather powerful, brooding style but showing less personality and sweetness today than the Chevalier-Montrachet. Serious wine, but does it have the tension of a topnotch Montrachet?