Bienvenues Bâtard Montrachet, Grand Cru, 2022
Tightly wound and steely at its core, with layers of fruit and stones you sense are waiting to explode. A coiled spring of a wine, all bundled up energy at first and then this long, really quite high-toned haunting finish. A ball of taut energy. Powerful, long, but really all about energy and potential today. The domaine’s smallest holding, a mere eight rows equates to just two and a half barrels, as well as its oldest vines, planted in 1940.
critic reviews
The 2022 Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru is my favorite of Sauzet's grands crus, opening in the glass with aromas of waxy citrus, Anjou pear, freshly baked bread, white flowers and hazelnuts, followed by a full-bodied, satiny and seamless palate that's pure, racy and refined, with excellent concentration and a penetrating finish. It's derived from a parcel planted in 1938.
The 2022 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru has much more expressive mineralité on the nose than the Bienvenue, with vivacious, citrus-driven aromas that gain intensity with aeration. The palate is well-balanced with a slightly oily-textured entry. There’s plenty of extract here, very weighty towards the persistent finish that needs to subsume some of the oak. Very good potential.