Batard Montrachet 2012

Batard Montrachet / Fontaine Gagnard

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Tasting Notes

(Fontaine owns two parcels on the Chassagne-Montrachet side, "mostly just below Montrachet"; 13.7% alcohol): Pale straw-yellow. Aromas of lemon, lime, menthol, crushed stone and iodine. Outsized, ripe and rich, even massive, but not yet showing grand cru precision or cut. With its elevated alcohol, this wine will need six or seven years to burn off some of its baby fat. Fontaine is not sure if the 2012s will be long-term agers but he's convinced that they will be for drinking after the 2013s.

Score: 93

Stephen Tanzer, Vinous.com 01 September 2014

Bright, pale yellow. Rather inexpressive but fresh nose hints at ripe stone fruits, clove and menthol. Very rich, chewy and concentrated (the yield here was just 30 hectoliters per hectare, according to Fontaine), but slightly bitter-edged and hard to taste today. This glyceral, extract-rich wine boasts terrific material and a very long, vibrant finish. (There was just a tiny quantity of Montrachet in 2012, and at the time of my visit that wine was in the cellar of Domaine Gagnard-Delagrange, owned by the family of Fontaine's wife Laurence, and with whom Fontaine-Gagnard shares this parcel.)

Score: 92 - 95

Stephen Tanzer, Vinous.com 01 September 2013

A densely fruited and layered nose of white flowers, mandarin orange and ripe yellow orchard fruit aromas is trimmed in discreet but not invisible oak. The rich, powerful and impressively concentrated broad-shouldered flavors brim with plenty of dry extract on the almost painfully intense, persistent and mouth coating finish. This is a big but attractively stylish Bâtard that combines a sleek muscularity with admirable refinement. Note that this will need a few years of cellar time first as it's quite tight at present. Don't miss!

Score: 93

Allen Meadows, Burghound Maturity: 2019+ 01 June 2014

The 2012 Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru comes from two parcels of vines, the earliest planted in the 1930s. It is more expressive at this early stage than its peers, offering peach skin and nectarine fruit, fine mineralite and tension. The palate is powerful like the Criots-Batard-Montrachet, packed with pithy fruit and touches of granite on the finish. Very fine – but just five barrels this year.

Score: 93

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 30 December 2013