Guys,
I was at a dinner recently and we had some Sauzet Chassagne Montrachet that I loved. Is their any such thing as a good value resonably priced Montrachet ?
Define reasonably priced. Sauzet is one of the pricier and better producers. You certainly can find some Batard, Bienvenues, Criots Batard, and Chassagne Montrachet for a lower price than Montrachet or Le Montrachet. Chevalier tends to be a bit pricier than the others but not as high as Montrachet.
Bargains can be had. For example, Premier Cru recently had some 08 Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet on sale for $24.99 (pre-arrival).
More generally, I’ve found that in looking for White Burg bargains, St. Aubin and Chablis can yield good options. At an even lower price point, I’ve been enjoying 08 T&P Matrot Bourgogne recently for about $16.
Brian - check out Jadot’s high end whites. Tasty and from Ive seen cheaper than most other producers.
When you buy Le Montrachet you buy a name, so the price doesn’t necessarily follow quality. Of course that can be expoused for a lot of premium white burgundy. Matt Kramer said in his book on Burgundy that the best bet in grand cru white burgundy is Chevalier Montrachet because the vineyard holdings are represented by the greatest number of top estates. Over the years I’ve found this to be true. Most of the Le Montrachets will run you about $300 to over $1000 per bottle now.
If you had to have a Le Montrachet and cost was the issue I’d look at Jadot in a good year first.
Maybe then Guy Amiot followed by Jacques Prieur and Sauzet. But the price quickly escalates for the premium juice represented by Comte Lafon, Vincent Leflaive and DRC. Louis Latour can be rather inconsistent in my estimation (maybe I just don’t like his often to oaky style. I suspect that Bouchard is making pretty respectable Le Montrachet now but I have no recent experience. Check Winesearcher for current info.
Now if only that magician of burgundian winemaking Pierre Morey owned a bit of Le Montrachet I’d pay almost anything for a bottle, (to transport me on snow white wings to my eternal resting place) so to speak.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Are you asking about Montrachet specifically, or just wines from Chassagne and Puligny-Montrachet…two worlds apart price wise, as you can pretty much start at the bottom with wines from Chassagne and Puligny-Montrachet, whilst Montrachet and QPR are two words that don’t really go together…
Otherwise, some good suggestion here already, and in particular about Chevalier, as I personally would rather have a few great Chevaliers than one top Montrachet most of the time…
Thanks for you excellent replies fellas. I am just starting to learn about white burgs. I will seek out all of the wines you guys have suggested. Thanks so much.
Brian
Lafouge.
How about Jadot’s white Pernand - Croix de Pierre?
well, he’s made Montrachet, though he doesn’t own any of the dirt. I’ve still got a couple bottles of 93 Morey-Blanc Montrachet. (And there’s often a Batard.)
alan
Try to get La Cabotte from Bouchard Père et Fils : it should belong to Montrachet AOC but, as usual, some conflict at the time of the AOC rules put this lot apart. It is not priced as a Montrachet but is still a very good value.
Hmmm. On local search engines, Bouchard la Cobotte comes up as a Chevalier Montrachet priced from $200 to $600 per bottle.
I keep thinking about your 60 magnums of Morgon. They would be ideal for weddings.
No
I reckon Boillot has a pretty good QPR as far as Montrachet goes…
Morgon for wedding : you read in my mind !
At € 15 per magnum, which wine can beat that ?
La Cabotte : yes, in Burgundy , all “grands crus” has a portion of the price which is paid for the classification.
So, Montrachet will be always expensive, even when it is not well done. And then, it is hugely expensive !
Fifteen Euros! Well, no wonder. >= $40 here, but still fine value.
Jean Louis Chavy Puligny & Chassagnes are sensational values in my book, especially the village Puligny and Premier cru Chassagne Folatieres.
Having a big party at our place today, and two wines a friend imports are both very smart…'07 Moery Coffinet Purcelles and Cailleretes…very good.
Ian,
La Cabotte is a very small parcel bought by Bouchard many years ago continuous with a large parcel of Montrachet. It is located around the tool shed (Cabotte).
It was labeled as Chevalier-Montrachet at the time. I exchanged some emails with Bouchard about this.
The exact reason for being labeled Chevalier at the time was unclear but most likely to have lower taxes. It had been previously been included in a section of Montrachet sold to Bouchard in the early 1900’s.
There is some evidence that it might be slightly inferior to the Montrachet section. That might be the reason they haven’t sought elevation. Not sure that is really true however.
A terrific wine.
The Chevy Cabotte parcel, owned by Bouchard, is a very small one located entirely within the Montrachet vineyard. This is one of the facts that makes Burgundy frustrating and interesting. It has more raciness than does Montrachet, but more power than Chevalier usually does. So, in a sense, it’s a “Montrachet” at the lesser Chevalier prices . . .
alan
Don, Alan: thanks for taking the time to fill in the blanks for me. I was making the common mistake of confounding value with price: a Monrachet-quality wine at a Chevalier-Monrachet price may represent good value, even when the pricing is in the $200-$600 range.
Still curious about Jadot’s 1er Pernand - the Croix de Pierre. I think the red has a good rep as a value and low-cost wine, but find little in print about the white.
Ian