2010 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

Following the superb 2010 vintage here, brothers Marc and Alexandre were still trying to figure out the 2011s. They picked the chardonnay in four days flat, beginning on August 31, and describe the wines as "a bit skinny, with potential alcohols in the 12.4% range." Following moderate chaptalization, the village wines will be around 13% and the premier crus 13.4%. With thick skins in 2011, yields were only about 5% to 10% higher than those of the previous year. Interestingly, Marc noted that the 2011s have higher acidity than the 2010s. "At this point, they're almost more concentrated too," he explained. "The 2010s are more subtle and typical; 2011 is powerful." The brothers begin with most of the bourbes (they estimate that they bring about five liters of lees into the barrels) but have not practiced batonnage after the alcoholic fermentation since the 2007 vintage.

Marc Bachelet describes 2010 as a typical Burgundy vintage from a small crop, without exaggerated acids or sugars. "We picked with very little rot," he told me, "and the premier crus were much riper than the village wines. It's a vintage with very good balance. In fact, 2010 has better ripeness than 2008. In '08, the ripeness came in the last ten days of the season." According to brother Alexandre, 2010 was the first year in which the Bachelets did no lees stirring. They do a strict debourbage but then work as reductively as possible. And they are slowly but surely reducing the percentage of new oak during elevage: it's now about one-third for the grand crus and 25% to 30% for the premier crus.