2010 Domaine Étienne Sauzet Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

Pale bright yellow. Lemon, lime, hawthorn, lavender and crushed stone on the nose. The penetrating palate combines great sweetness with bracing acidity, leaving the wine a bit overbearing today and much less harmonious than the Batard. But this is wonderfully dense and long. The wine's acids and sugar will need time to harmonize. I would expect this to merit a higher score with six or seven years in bottle.

The finest of the 2010 grand crus, the 2010 Chevalier-Montrachet emerges from the glass with juicy yellow stone fruit lychee, light floral honey and jasmine. It is at once deeply textured yet also impeccably refined in its voluptuous expression of fruit. There is an inner sweetness and perfume that suggests a hint of botrytis in the exotic aromas and flavors that develop in the glass. I especially like the way the Chevalier builds to its rich, creamy finish. This is a lovely showing from Sauzet.

Enticing, high-pitched nose offers lemon, iodine, menthol and lavender. Intensely flavored, minerally and penetrating, conveying an exhilarating weightlessness. This finished with 2.5 grams of r.s. but has the strong mineral-driven acidity to handle the sugar. The inner-mouth floral character persists on the very long finish. A beauty in the making.