2010 Batard Montrachet

Bright, pale green-yellow. High-pitched aromas of lemon oil, white pepper, wild herbs and crushed rock. Intensely flavored and suave, with a silky texture and a light touch to its lemon, stone and wild herb flavors. Wonderfully fine-grained Batard from the Puligny side of the cru.

Jadot's 2010 Bâtard-Montrachet, from the Puligny side, boasts stunning minerality. Intense notes of crushed rocks and slate caress the palate. The Bâtard is all nuance and class. There is a level of pure delineation and crystalline definition here that is simply striking. Today the aromas and flavors are quite bright, but the wine should fill out nicely and take on richer tones as it ages. Over the time I followed it, the Bâtard opened up beautifully.

Jadot’s 2010 Batard-Montrachet, from the Puligny side, boasts stunning minerality. Intense notes of crushed rocks and slate caress the palate. The Batard is all nuance and class. There is a level of pure delineation and crystalline definition here that is simply striking. Today the aromas and flavors are quite bright, but the wine should fill out nicely and take on richer tones as it ages. Over the time I followed it, the Batard opened up beautifully. Anticipated maturity: 2020+. Once again, I tasted with Jacques Lardiere and Frederic Barnier during a marathon session that lasted several hours. Lardiere has been on a whirlwind tour celebrating his last year at Jadot before his long-announced retirement, but I will believe he is stepping down when I see it. Lifers like Lardiere simply don’t retire. As for the wines, Jadot’s 2010s are unqualified successes across the board. Of course, the wines from the most prestigious appellations are often compelling, but frankly I find just as much joy in discovering the many fabulous Burgundies from unheralded villages that are sprinkled throughout this portfolio. Lardiere and Barnier first thought 2010 was better for reds than whites, but that gap has narrowed recently in their opinion. Yields were down 15-20% for the whites (less than the reds), because of the December, 2009 frost and irregular flowering the following spring. A number of wines were chaptalized approximately 0.5%. The 2010 whites were bottled between February and March 2012. I also tasted a handful of 2009s and 2008s, which I have included here as part of my goal to revisit wines from bottle on a regular basis. I continue to be thrilled by the Jadot 2009 whites, while the 2008s I tasted are mostly equally succesful. Jadot fans know that this venerable winery is composed of several brands; Maison Louis Jadot, Domaine Louis Jadot, Heritiers de Louis Jadot, Domaine Duc de Magenta and Domaine Gagey. In the interest of simplicity, I have listed all of the wines in this section under Domaine/Maison Jadot. There are two cases in which a wine is made by more than one of the labels, in which case the corresponding tasting note indicates which wine was tasted; they are the Chassagne-Montrachet premier cru Garenne and the Puligny-Montrachet premier cru Folatieres. Importer: Kobrand Corp., Purchase, NY; tel. (914) 253-7756