1997 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

No묠Ramonet describes his '98 whites as higher in acidity and a good half-degree higher in sugar than the '97s, from a growing season that presented a succession of challenges. Yields were a bit lower in '98 than those of the previous year. "No debourbage no batonnage that our politique " says No묮 "Batonnage is basically done to advance the malolactic fermentations, which we don't want to do." In this cold cellar, the secondary fermentations routinely drag into summer, and thus, here again, I have focused on the most recently bottled set of Ramonet wines-in this case the '97s, which were bottled between last fall and this spring. The Ramonets have kept prices stable in 1997 ("It would be crazy and unjustified to raise prices for '97") and expect to offer '98s, too, at the same prices as the '96s and '95s. The Ramonets now offer a couple barrels of Chevalier-Montrachet, having worked out a trade with Domaine Chartron, which will get some of the Ramonets' Batard.