Welcome Bastards

Matty G decided we needed to explore Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet for Monday Table. A fabulous meal was had at The Flower Drum last night. There was plenty of Carillon at the table.

Younger BBM Bracket
2012 Henri Boillot Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: There’s a whiff of green melon, plenty of citrus and some blossom notes. It is rich with good line and is a wine of elegance and detail.

2013 Faiveley Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Complex aromatics of honeysuckle, flint, green melon and white peach. It is intense and linear. It is very fine and a wine of great finesse and balance.

2012 Domaine Jacques Carillon Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Ripe peach fruits are tinged with some vanilla spice. It is full and unctuous in the mouth and really gains in the glass, opening up after taking in plenty of air. It is very long.

2012 Faiveley Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: There’s a touch of the exotic here. It has some toast and sappy peach fruits in the mouth. Acidity is starting to soften and it is a generous and plump rendition of the vineyard.

Older BBM Bracket
1994 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: On the nose there’s some honey and truffle. It is full and round in the mouth and still has a rigid, minerally spine.

1996 Louis Carillon Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: The most advanced of all of the wines, showing some baked apple and honey. It is quite custardy on the palate and it still has the whippy acidity of the vintage.

1992 Louis Carillon Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: A beautiful, mature bottle of white Burgundy. There’s some candied peel to the aroma along with white peach and vanilla. It is full and textured in the mouth with good volume and a long and fresh finish.

2005 Louis Carillon Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Has real fruit sweetness, with a tinned peach note to it. In the mouth there’s great shape and an intense core. All of the flesh is underpinned by solid structure and it finishes with good chew. Length is imposing.

Middle Aged BBM Bracket
2008 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Just a bit too advanced, showing plenty of baked apple and honeycomb. There are tinned peach notes and some vanilla. It is full and round in the mouth with the tangy acidity of the vintage cleaning up the back-end.

2008 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: A really good bottle. There’s rich, ripe orchard fruits cut with fine minerally acidity. It has excellent depth and real clarity. Flavours build and it finishes with great cut.
2006 Vincent Girardin Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Rich, ripe and exotic but beautifully balanced. It is powerful in the mouth and quite unctuous. Detail is good and it is a wine drinking somewhere near its apogee. Lovely stuff.

2009 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Plenty of struck match to the aroma. It is so fresh, dense and direct. Rich, sappy orchard fruits stain the palate and there are notes of chalk, honeysuckle and citrus too. Length is fabulous.

2010 Bracket with a couple of smokies
2010 Louis Jadot Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Relatively dense and tight, showing fine white peach aromas and flavours. It is intense, powerful and linear.

2010 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot, Grand Cru: Rich, sweet fruit has a light candied feel. It is a complex and textural wine with layers of flavour. There’s plenty of spice and a lactic quality. It has good drive and persistence.

2010 Henri Boillot Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Very fine and elegant with a pretty nose of blossom, lemon and white peach. Nice balance and proportion in the mouth and good build. The finish is quite chalky.

2010 Henri Boillot Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru: Expressive nose that has some toast and spice as well as intense peach fruit. It has a bit more power and sap than the Bienvenues and is a rich, muscular wine of good complexity and poise.

Grand Cru Chambolle Bracket
2001 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes, Grand Cru: Very pretty nose of rose petals, red fruits and Asian spice. Fresh in the mouth with a core of cherry and raspberry. There’s good complexity and balance and it really fans out on the finish.

2002 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Musigny, Grand Cru: Quite a bit of animale funk. There’s intense cherry fruit and plenty of earth. It feels velvety against the gums and finishes with lots of savoury nuance.

2000 Domaine d’Auvenay Bonnes Mares, Grand Cru: Complex aromatics of Hoisin, ginger, compost, earth and cherry. It is rich and full in the mouth with good depth of flavour. It has a silky mouthfeel and finishes with excellent cut. Another ’00 that is drinking beautifully.

We finished with a couple of older Massandra fortifieds. A 1936 Agu-Dag Cahors was all pastel red with earthy complexity and a sweet long finish. A 1949 South Coast White Muscat was crammed with intense dried fruit aromas and flavours. There was a suggestion of cumquat and raisins and it was sweet and luscious.

No pox?!? Play the lotto!!

Hi Charlie,

The '08 was more advanced than it should have been as was the '96 Carillon but both offered some pleasure. The '92 and '05 both breathed up wonderfully well after looking quite dumb on opening.

Cheers
Jeremy

What’d you think of the Jacques? Same as the louis bottlings?

No change Fu. Jacques made both of them.

Damn, missed a dinner at the 'Drum! - How was the food?

Sounds like a fun night, a lot of whites though!

Food was fantastic. Pearl meat goes very well with white Burg and the Neil Perry Mud Crab Noodles were superb.

We missed you.

Thanks Jeremy.
Some inteersting data points, despite BBM commanding 0% of my cellar space.

Can you compare the style of Louis and Francois Carillon?

Kent the Louis Carillon Domaine was split between brothers Jacques and Francois. Jacques got the Bienvenues. I find the Jacques Carillon wines a bit more precise and nervy whereas Francois’ are a tad more generous and open-knit when young.

Thanks Jeremy - that is a pretty comprehensive look at BBM! The '92 Carillon was the wine that turned me onto BBM (and to Carillon of course). I remember it fondly. Any favourite?

Rauno,

Probably my favourite wine of the night was the '09 Ramonet, closely followed by the '13 Faiveley, '92 Carillon, '08 Leflaive and '05 Carillon.

Cheers
Jeremy

I had the same thought as Charlie : hardly any premox … is amazing .
Great notes with all my favorite wines . Thanks

what is the consensus on wood treatment vs. francois carillon?

You lucky, lucky bastards!

you needed some Colin-Morey, best BBM I’ve ever had! Sounds like a fabulous evening.

I am sure there was plenty of carrying on with the Carillon and now Alan wants even more with the Morey!

Glorious Bastards.

Nice notes!

Interestingly, one of Ramonet’s two parcels of Bâtard is adjacent to their parcel of Bienvenues-Bâtard. I guess it’s the other parcel, on the Puligny-Chassagne border, that makes the difference.

I tend to think BBM is quite under-rated, perhaps seen as “fifth equal” with the lowly CBM. Personally, I’ve probably tended to prefer BBM over BM with only few exceptions. Perhaps BM is just “over-rated”

Jeremy - do you have a view on whether the “good” BBMs are up there with great Chevalier and Batard, or do you feel they are a notch below?

I’m not Jeremy, but will chime in by suggesting that BBM can be a bit of a chameleon, sometimes nodding to Bâtard-Montrachet (powerful, muscular, dense) in style and sometimes nodding to Pucelles (more fragrant, elegant, sometimes deceptively open-knit, with less mid-palate weight and chewy power). My sense is that it generally inclines towards the latter. To my mind, the more extreme style of Bâtard makes it a higher-wire act (it’s easier to make a coarse, rustic, cloyingly rich wine) but potentially greater. All things being equal, Chevalier is better than both, but all things are seldom equal and I’d argue that at least some vintages do favor Bâtard over Chevalier.

FWIW, Pierre-Yves Colin believes that his Bâtard will prove the longest-lived of all the wines he makes.