Wine Advisor
Etienne Sauzet, Montrachet Grand Cru 2015
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2015 Montrachet Grand Cru from Etienne Sauzet is just missing a little delineation and precision on the nose, where the oak barrels are too vocal, drowning out the terroir expression you want from a Montrachet. The palate is better, with wonderful balance and fine concentration, though it does not quite deliver the mineralité or tension I seek on the finish. I wonder where this will go in the future.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Bright, light yellow. Discreet nose offers scents of flowers and iodiney minerality; not at all exotic for Montrachet from a warm, sunny year. Then superripe and rich on the palate, conveying an almost oily concentration to its flavors of ripe apricot and mandarin orange enlivened by brisk citrus notes. With two grams per liter residual sugar, this wonderfully smooth, seamless wine comes across as deceptively easygoing. There's nothing austere about this beauty, which finishes with slowly mounting length.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2015 Montrachet Grand Cru, which comes from purchased fruit from the Chassagne side, was taken from barrel since it underwent a very slow malolactic fermentation according to winemaker Benîot Riffault. To be honest, it has a hard time following the Chevalier Montrachet, not nearly as expressive and without the mineralité shown by the vines located further up in the incline. The palate is actually more expressive with very fine tension, quite intense with palpable salinity, with a sense of energy. There is genuine weight and presence on the finish here and the aftertaste is very long, yet the action seems to reside with the Chevalier-Montrachet this season.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
The 2015 Montrachet Grand Cru from Etienne Sauzet is just missing a little delineation and precision on the nose, where the oak barrels are too vocal, drowning out the terroir expression you want from a Montrachet. The palate is better, with wonderful balance and fine concentration, though it does not quite deliver the mineralité or tension I seek on the finish. I wonder where this will go in the future.
About the Producer
Etienne Sauzet is an estate based in Puligny-Montrachet, making some of the most sought-after Chardonnay wines in Burgundy. Sauzet's wines are prized for their elegance at village level and for their extra weight and concentration at Premier and Grand Cru level. The portfolio includes leading examples of Chevalier-Montrachet, Le Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Champs Gain. The domaine is made up of 15 hectares (37 ac) of estate vineyards split between the communes of Puligny-Montrachet, Cormot-le-Grand and Chassagne-Montrachet with small amounts of fruit externally sourced. The grapes are fermented in oak and aged in barrel for around a year – premier crus see up to 33-percent new oak, while grand crus get 40-percent. After barrel aging, the wines are racked into tanks for another six months on lees. Etienne Sauzet was established at the forefront of Puligny-Montrachet production by Etienne Sauzet himself (1903-1975). His 12 hectare (30 ac) estate was taken over by his son-in-law Gérard Boudot, although in 1991 Boudot's cousin Jean-Marc Boillot took out his share of vineyards, requiring Boudot and his family to make additional acquisitions to bring the property back to its current size.
