1996 Batard Montrachet
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
From a year that Guffens describes as "the worst great vintage I ever made," the 1996 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru wafts from the glass with aromas of buttered toast, confit citrus, pear, almond paste and iodine. Full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it's immensely incisive, with considerable mid-palate volume built around a searing spine of acidity, concluding with a long and honeyed finish.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Bavard fruit. Dark orangey gold. Heady, rich nose. Stolid. Not too much lift. Concentrated orangeade in an oaky corset. Slight note of decay. (JR)
Powerful aromas of citrus oil, pear, apple, flowers, spices and beurre blanc. Remarkably concentrated and intense, in fact almost painful today. Shows a distinctly chewy texture that comes from strong extract. An incredibly intricate yet large-scaled Batard, already displaying extraordinary inner-mouth flavors and three-dimensional texture. As long on the finish as any '96 I have tasted to date, with the possible exception of Guffens' own Chablis Bougros. Flavors of pear skin and mineral dust resound in the mouth.