2006 Domaine Pierre Morey Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

Musky, leesy, deeply pitched nose hints at menthol, minerals and smoky oak. Large-scaled, rich and fat but a bit musclebound today and extremely hard to taste ("a colossus," says Morey). Powerful acidity leavens the dense pineapple fruit. This is almost painful today but not at all over the top for the year. Lively on the aftertaste but more about power than juiciness today. This may well merit a significantly higher score with bottle aging.

(just three and a half barrels made, from a crop level of 32 h/h, according to Morey) Knockout nose combines nut oil, smoky oak, citrus fruits and menthol. Fat, chewy and full, but distinctly powerful and backward, with little obvious sweetness to the flavors of yellow fruits, smoke, menthol and roasted nuts. A big, structured wine with a lot of stuffing in reserve. Less likable now than the Perrieres, with more acidity showing, this will need a good seven or eight years of cellaring.

From a parcel situated not far from Montrachet, Pierre Morey’s 2006 Batard-Montrachet offers aromas of honeysuckle, chalk dust, sea breeze, white truffle, and chicken stock. With brine and truffle taking the lead on the palate, this rich, expansive wine leaves not doubt that terroir has somehow sublimated any tendency of Chardonnay to express something as prosaic as fruits or berries. Sappy intensity of minerals and meet stock mark a long and intriguing finish. This should be fascinating to follow for close to a decade, perhaps longer.||Pierre Morey – who recently announced his retirement after many years as cellar master at Domaine Leflaive – continues to craft Morey actively stirs the lees until Christmas, then lets the wines tell him when and whether to continue, which for the most part he did not in 2006. Wine Advocate.December, 2008