Wine Advisor
Etienne Sauzet, Bienvenues Batard Montrachet Grand Cru 2017
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(there are just two-and-a-half barrels of this juice, none of them new): Bright pale yellow. Rich, ripe peach aroma with a buttery nuance. Then dry and laid-back on the palate; in a rather powerful style but youthfully tight, showing no easy oaky sweetness. More minerally than the Combettes but displaying less stuffing and creaminess than that wine (I might have identified this wine blind as a Pucelles). This fairly large-scaled wine finishes with a peach pit cyanic dryness and very good length.
About the Producer
Etienne Sauzet is an estate based in Puligny-Montrachet, making some of the most sought-after Chardonnay wines in Burgundy. Sauzet's wines are prized for their elegance at village level and for their extra weight and concentration at Premier and Grand Cru level. The portfolio includes leading examples of Chevalier-Montrachet, Le Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Champs Gain. The domaine is made up of 15 hectares (37 ac) of estate vineyards split between the communes of Puligny-Montrachet, Cormot-le-Grand and Chassagne-Montrachet with small amounts of fruit externally sourced. The grapes are fermented in oak and aged in barrel for around a year – premier crus see up to 33-percent new oak, while grand crus get 40-percent. After barrel aging, the wines are racked into tanks for another six months on lees. Etienne Sauzet was established at the forefront of Puligny-Montrachet production by Etienne Sauzet himself (1903-1975). His 12 hectare (30 ac) estate was taken over by his son-in-law Gérard Boudot, although in 1991 Boudot's cousin Jean-Marc Boillot took out his share of vineyards, requiring Boudot and his family to make additional acquisitions to bring the property back to its current size.
