2006 Bienvenues Batard Montrachet

The Boillot 2006 Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet is smells intriguingly of violets, white truffle, white peach, chalk dust, and sea breeze, reminding me a bit of a great Mesnil Champagne. Glossy in texture, with deep nut oil richness, and a sweeter more obvious suggestion of ripe pit fruits and citrus than the Criots, this displays amazing complexity of mineral, animal, fungal elements that carry into a riveting finish. I suspect this would be worth holding for a decade or more, but given its youthful qualities and given the vicissitudes of aging white Burgundy, anyone lucky (and wealthy) enough to latch on a bottle or two would be foolish to push his or her luck and risk missing out on an unforgettable experience! Henri Boillot's ambitious and burgeoning negociant arm is made up in large part of many small bottling lots, representing remarkably many of the Cote d-Or's most prestigious crus. -Precision and minerality- are words he offers to explain his intentions even in a vintage as ripe as 2006, and for the most part he walks the accompanying walk, with wines (largely assembled in tank) that showed more generously and expressively than did Boillot's estate wines on the same day. Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491 4724