Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

Bâtard-Montrachet is the largest of the five Grands Crus on the hill and is divided between Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet, with Puligny's share slightly larger. It spreads out at the foot of the slope, at around 250 meters, just below the road that separates it from Montrachet; to the northeast it continues into Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, to the south into Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet, and to the north it borders the Premier Cru Les Pucelles.

Gentle slope, exposure from east to southeast. Beneath an uneven blanket of clayey colluvium, poor in stones, lie slabby limestones of the Middle Jurassic; the murgers at the edges of the vines show how thin the earth is. The soils, deeper and more clayey than on the climats upslope, give the wine its roundness.

In the seventeenth century one of its parcels still produced red wine from mixed grapes; by 1726 it was already given over to white. In 1775 Courtépée named the “bâtard” alongside the true Montrachet and the Chevalier; in 1816 Jullien placed it in the first class. According to tradition, the name recalls the illegitimate son of a lord of Puligny. A court ruling of 1921 admitted the name Bâtard-Montrachet; the Grand Cru appellation dates from 1937, the final boundaries from 1939. The wine, golden yellow, is fine, round, and enveloping, with hazelnut, honey, and flowers and a long finish. The available bottles, when there are any, appear further down.