2009 Batard Montrachet

The 2009 Bâtard-Montrachet is a big wine. Today it shows its broad shoulders and structure, but also comes across as less obvious than the Criots, suggesting it has begun to shut down in bottle. There is plenty of finesse and personality in the glass, but this is a wine whose best days are still at least a few years away. Nevertheless, it is impossible to miss the wine's exceptional harmony, laser-like focus and promise.

The 2009 Batard-Montrachet is a big wine. Today it shows its broad shoulders and structure, but also comes across as less obvious than the Criots, suggesting it has begun to shut down in bottle. There is plenty of finesse and personality in the glass, but this is a wine whose best days are still at least a few years away. Nevertheless, it is impossible to miss the wine’s exceptional harmony, laser-like focus and promise. Anticipated maturity: 2016+. Richard Fontaine began harvesting the 2009s on September 6. The malos were fairly quick and were completed by April 2010. The wines were racked in June and bottled in early September. Perhaps it is inevitable with a total of ten different Chassagne premier crus in the lineup, but in this vintage not all of the wines are markedly different from each other. Importers: Polaner Selections, Mt. Kisco, NY; tel. (914) 244-0404, Jeffrey Wellburn Selections, Van Nuys, CA; tel. (818) 780-4446

Bright, pale yellow. Crystallized lemon peel and a note of honey on the nose. Fat, sweet and stuffed with honeyed fruit. Boasts firm acidity but comes across as a bit more candied than the Criots, and a tad aggressive on the very long, firm back end. Conveys a somewhat higher-pH mouth feel than Criots. Incidentally, Fontaine inherited his late father-in-law's vines in Batard-Montrachet and Morgeot during the summer of 2009-plantings he described as similar to his own in those two crus.