Bâtard-Montrachet 2000: Power in a Suit and Tie
At twenty-six, Paul Pernot’s 2000 Bâtard-Montrachet retained fruit, acidity and mineral definition alongside mature notes of honey and marzipan. It had the expected power of the grand cru, but carried it with control and proportion.
Paul Pernot’s grand cru showed how twenty-six years can turn weight into proportion without erasing fruit, acidity or origin.
The most precise measure in the tasting record was not an aroma. It was time.
The finish remained present for roughly fifteen seconds, carrying the wine’s fruit, texture and acidity beyond its immediate weight. Honey and marzipan indicated its development, but neither had displaced the freshness and mineral definition beneath them.
At twenty-six years of age, this Bâtard-Montrachet was not merely intact. Its components still belonged together.
There was the scale expected from the appellation, but no sense of excess. The most accurate description was also the simplest: the power of Bâtard-Montrachet, but in a suit and tie.
More than survival
Older bottles are often approached through a narrow question: has the wine survived?
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