Benjamin Leroux Batard Montrachet Grand Cru 2020 Magnum
Diam. Leroux’s Bâtard comes from a brilliantly located 0.16-hectare plot of 40-year-old vines, right next to the Hospices de Beaune’s parcel and directly across the road from DRC’s Le Montrachet. It falls on the Chassagne side of the vineyard, for what it’s worth. Leroux gained full control of the vineyard management of this site in 2016. He has recently had the original stone entrance restored here, so it’s quite easy to find his plot if you’re ever driving the boundary between Bâtard and Le Montrachet. Again, it’s bottled only in magnum; there was just 530 litres made this year that was fermented in a bespoke barrel made specifically for this harvest. The wine was then racked into two older barrels after fermentation was complete.
“Mid lemon yellow, very classy, seems ripe enough though only 13%, a little oak showing. This is exquisite all the way through, not the most profound Bâtard but the range of flavours is admirable. So too the persistence. Lemon perfume, a suggestion of persimmon.” 94-96 points, Jasper Morris, Inside Burgundy.