2016 Le Montrachet
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Montrachet Grand Cru has a lucid silvery sheen. The bouquet is quite generous, offering scents of brioche, white peach and almond, all well defined and gaining intensity in the glass. The concentrated palate features notes of peach skin and ginger and a hint of caramelized pear. Quite a feisty Montrachet with a spicy, persistent finish. The crop was reduced 50% by frost, and you can feel the concentration here. Excellent. Tasted at the Montrachet vertical in London.
Critic scores
Neal Martin
The Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The complexity and sheer magnitude of Montrachet is on full show here. A powerful expression of the largest holdings in the Puligny side of the vineyard. Grilled hazelnuts, grilled peaches, grapefruit and lemon citrus, as well as a layer of spiced nougat-like aromas. There’s a very long, concentrated and dense palate that starts out cloaked in flavors of rich peaches and glossy fruits. The flavors then peel away in layers as it sits on the palate, revealing a very focused, refined and essence-like citrus core with tremendous elegance and intensity. Drink or hold through the next decade. Or even longer if you desire.
The 2016 Montrachet Grand Cru (Marquis de Laguiche) felt very closed and taciturn on the nose when I tasted it, despite rigorous coaxing. The palate is well balanced with a lightly honeyed, spicy opening, more saline than the Corton-Charlemagne with a long aftertaste carried by a tang of ginger that leaves the mouth tingling. It will deserve 5 or 6 years in bottle, but it will be worth the wait.
About the producer
Joseph Drouhin is one of the largest and most famous producers in Burgundy, making both domaine and négociant wines. It remains family-owned and run, now in the hands of the fourth generation.