2017 Domaine Vincent Girardin Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

The 2017 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru is also superb. Offering up a deep and complex bouquet of citrus oil, pear, oatmeal, beeswax and wheat toast, framed by a subtle touch of reduction, the wine is full-bodied, dense and multidimensional, with a racy spine of acidity underpinning its layered, muscular core, concluding with a long and vibrant finish. "It's a vintage adapted to this vineyard," observes Germain, and it's hard to dissent. From barrel, I thought the Chevalier had the edge, but from bottle, I'm inclined to favor the Bâtard. Readers should note that this cuvée derives from a different source from the Girardin wines of yesteryear.

(from two parcels of wines, one more than 50 years of age and the other between 30 and 40): Bright medium yellow. More minerally on the nose than the Bienvenue-Bâtard, offering aromas of stone fruits, white pepper, menthol and spices. Offers more tension and verve in the mouth too, as well as an impression of solidity, volume and extract richness. With its firm acidity and minty mid-palate lift, this wine comes across as noticeably drier than the Bienvenue-Bâtard. Finishes citrussy and very long, with noteworthy aromatic lift. This wine was more backward and less expressive than the Bienvenue from the start, noted Christophe Morin. It will clearly need more time in barrel and in bottle to evolve.