Bâtard Montrachet, Domaine Fontaine Gagnard 2012

**Note: from a .30 ha parcel in Chassagne**
A densely fruited and layered nose of white flowers, mandarin orange and ripe yellow orchard fruit aromas is trimmed in discreet but not invisible oak. The rich, powerful and impressively concentrated broad-shouldered flavors brim with plenty of dry extract on the almost painfully intense, persistent and mouth coating finish. This is a big but attractively stylish Bâtard that combines a sleek muscularity with admirable refinement. Note that this will need a few years of cellar time first as it's quite tight at present.

(Fontaine owns two parcels on the Chassagne-Montrachet side, ""mostly just below Montrachet""; 13.7% alcohol): Pale straw-yellow. Aromas of lemon, lime, menthol, crushed stone and iodine. Outsized, ripe and rich, even massive, but not yet showing grand cru precision or cut. With its elevated alcohol, this wine will need six or seven years to burn off some of its baby fat. Fontaine is not sure if the 2012s will be long-term agers but he's convinced that they will be for drinking after the 2013s.