2011 Domaine Étienne Sauzet Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

(this is 100% from Puligny-Montrachet side as of 2011, as Boudot lost his Chassagne-Montrachet fruit): Pale, bright yellow. Musky, ripe but reticent nose hints at stone fruits and crushed stone. In a rather muscular, powerful style, with terrific punch and saline minerality to its peach and crushed stone flavors. Finishes very long, dry and savory. This is 13.2% alcohol without chaptalization: Boudot appears to have done a very good job of timing the harvest here.

Gently spiced notes open into lemon oil and subtle yellow stone fruits in the 2011 Batard-Montrachet. The style is surprisingly weightless for Batard, in fact, this is one of the more refined, introspective 2011 Batards I tasted. The long, persistent finish along is striking. There is no shortage of nuance or finesse in this exceptional wine from Sauzet.

Pale, bright yellow. Ripe aromas of peach and acacia flower, with a touch of smoky oak (this wine is aging in one-third new oak): Bigger, richer and more structured than the Bienvenue, showing a more concentrated, chewy texture but a bit less minerality today, perhaps owing to the fact that this wine only recently finished its malo. This very dry, large-scaled wine showed a hint of petrol--a different type of minerality--as it unfolded in the glass.