Critic ratings
robert_parker
2017
Rating:
94
–94
Aromas of pastry cream, fresh pears, Meyer lemon and white flowers introduce Ramonet's 2017 Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru, a full-bodied, deep and textural wine that's concentrated but incisive, with good structural tension and a long, chalky finish. Representing something of a hypothetical blend of the domaine's 2015 and 2014 vintages in this climat, it's well worth seeking out.
robert_parker
2014
Rating:
95
–95
Served blind and from magnum, I was gratified to be able to identify both the vintage and producer of Ramonet's 2014 Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru. Offering up aromas of crisp green orchard fruit, iodine, warm bread and crushed mint, the wine is full-bodied and expansively textural but incisive, with terrific concentration and cut, concluding with a long finish. While I'm more than happy to drink it from my friends' cellars, my own bottles won't be opened for the better part of a decade, and I would counsel readers to approach any other vintage of the decade before they start attacking their 2014s.
robert_parker
2013
Rating:
93
–93
The 2013 Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru continues to drink very well, wafting from the glass with aromas of pear, orange blossom, citrus oil, toasted nuts and white flowers. Full-bodied, satiny and textural, it's generous and enveloping, with lively acids, fine concentration and a long, saline finish. This an ample, giving Bienvenues from Ramonet; while it will hold, I'm not convinced there's much upside, so I am drinking up my remaining bottles.
robert_parker
2015
Rating:
94
–94
Jean-Claude Ramonet's 2015 Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru is lovely, offering up a youthful but already expressive nose of white flowers, green pear, mint, blanched almonds and candied lime peel. On the palate, the wine is glossy, full-bodied and multidimensional—rich but vibrant—with a sapid, detailed finish. This year, it's qualitatively very close to the domaine's Bâtard-Montrachet.
robert_parker
2012
Rating:
92
–92
The 2012 Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru from Ramonet is already quite accessible, offering up an attractive bouquet of apple, white peach, pastry cream, spring flowers and oak vanillin, followed by a typically glossy, expansive palate impression. I have some reservations, however, about how open knit the wine is on the palate, and a firmer core and more acidic cut to balance this wine's generous body would auger better for the long haul. As it is, this is a Bienvenues to approach in the near term, and I plan to follow that advice with my remaining bottles.
robert_parker
2016
Rating:
94
–94
The Ramonet family lost fully 90% of their crop to frost in this grand cru, but the 2016 Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru has turned out very well, offering up lovely aromas of green orchard fruit, Meyer lemon, fresh mint, pastry cream and iodine. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and satiny, with broad shoulders and a textural attack but considerable cut and tension. In its tangy, incisive profile it harks back to the white Burgundies of yesteryear, and I suspect it will prove very long lived.
robert_parker
1998
Rating:
91
–91
Aromatically, the impressive 1998 Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet offers rich, ripe apples and pears. This broad, medium-bodied, thick, and exuberant wine displays flavors reminiscent of minerals, gravel, spices, and assorted white fruits. Well-concentrated and deep, it should be consumed between 2002 and 2008.
Importer: Seagram Chateau & Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel (212) 572-7725.
robert_parker
2001
Rating:
87
–89
Creamed spices can be found in the nose of the 2001 Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet. This wine’s future quality will depend on whether it fleshes out as it finishes elevage. If so, it may well deserve an outstanding score. Light to medium-bodied, it reveals loads of minerals and quartz-like flavors in its pure, crystalline, tightly-wound personality. It has lovely concentration, length, and depth yet remains compressed and ungenerous. Projected maturity: 2005-2011.
Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel; (212) 572-7725
robert_parker
1995
Rating:
88
–91
Exhibiting beautifully ripe fruit aromas, the Bienvenue Batard Montrachet offers abundant spicy, minerally flavors. All the components are present for this wine to be outstanding, except for slight bitterness in the finish. I look forward to tasting this medium-to-full-bodied wine after it is bottled. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2012. This note is the result of tastings I did in Burgundy between January 7 and January 29. Ratings with a range of scores in parentheses indicate the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle.
My expectations were high when I arrived for my tasting at this world-renowned cellar. I had drunk the 1978 and 1992 Chassagne Montrachet Les Ruchottes with a good friend over dinner a few nights before, reminding me of the beautiful wines Ramonet is capable of making. While the 1995's were excellent, I found them to be disappointing for an estate of Ramonet's stature. (The few 1994 Ramonets I have tasted were also a let down, lacking fruit and revealing signs of oxidation).
Importer: Chateau & Estate Wine Co., New York, NY; tel (212) 572-7725.