2018 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru
| Type of Wine | White |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | |
| Appellation | |
| Winery | Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard |
| Vintage | 2018 |
| Grape | |
| Content (Alc) | 0.75 ltr (12.5%) |
| Drink window | 2020 - 2042 |
In stock
9 items available
Description
Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard is one of the best producers in the village of Chassagne-Montrachet. The domain has its origins in the fine Gagnard-Delagrange holdings of fifty years ago, as the vineyards come from the marriage of Richard Fontaine to Jacques Gagnard's eldest daughter, Laurence Gagnard, in 1982. The Gagnard family is very close, with much of the vineyard work and the gracious Céline Fontaine heart and soul managing the family's Chassagne-Montrachets, such as the premier crus as well as the grand crus of Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet and Montrachet itself.
The style of the wines at Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard is intense, concentrated, deep and complex. These are Chassagnes that start life as classically balanced and accessible, but always with fine expressions of terroir and underlying structure to age gracefully. The wines are generally aged in about a third of new oak for the premier crus and slightly more for the grand crus. Celine's Chassagne Blanc is one of the villages of great value, but the real fireworks begin with the premier crus. The range of Fontaine-Gagnard premier crus starts with Chassagne "Clos St. Jean", always the most progressive of the premier crus and quite popular on wine lists due to its relatively early drinkability. Chassagne also has wines with a little more structure than Clos St. Jean, and capable of aging for fifteen to twenty years in a top vintage. The two best premier crus in the line-up are "Caillerets", whose very calcareous soils typically produce the longest-lived premier cru in the estate's portfolio, and their dramatic and always fantastic "La Romanée". The estate also has a rare holding in the small vineyard of Chassagne "Grande Montagne", which is located in the heart of the band of the best Chassagne premier crus at the top of the slope, including Virondot, Grandes Ruchottes, La Romanée and Caillerets .
Among the grand crus, Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard has one of the largest pieces of the smallest grand cru in the Côte de Beaune, "Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet". Clive Coates called the Fontaine-Gagnard Criots "one of the very best sources for this little grand cru." There is often a hint of exotic complexity in Criots, as it offers delicious herbal elements and an almost "salty" nuance that marries the layers of apple and pear fruit and a fine base of chalky minerality. Celine Fontaine is also an excellent example of Bâtard-Montrachet - one of the raciest and most mineral Bâtards - and a little piece of Le Montrachet itself. The red wines should not be overlooked here, as there is a robust and age-worthy Chassagne-Montrachet rouge, as well as the consistently fine Volnay "Clos des Chênes" and Pommard "Rugiens". All in all, Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard is one of the very best in Chassagne-Montrachet and a consistently excellent resource that we highly recommend exploring.
Bâtard-Montrachet is an appellation with an area of 10.27 hectares. Bâtard-Montrachet is one of the five appellations classified as Grands Crus of the Côte de Beaune, together with Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet, Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet and Montrachet. The vineyards of the Bâtard-Montrachet appellation are located exclusively in the municipalities of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet between 240 and 250 meters above sea level and are planted on a terroir of brown limestone and clay soils. The wines of the Bâtard-Montrachet appellation, which are made exclusively from Chardonnay, are among the most prestigious wines of Burgundy. The vinification methods remain classic. Fermentation with native yeasts, 12 to 18 months of aging in oak barrels. Only the amount of new oak varies for the wines, namely 15-20% for the Villages, 30-40% for the Premiers Crus / Grands Crus. All year round, from pruning, they work on the vines to give them the best quality potential at harvest (plowing, regular soil analyses, annual replacement of dead vines, integrated cultivation, etc.)
FACT : The wine is stored in our conditioned Wine Warehouse and if you pick up the wine you will often receive a nice discount. You will immediately see the possible discount if you choose Pickup in the Checkout page. We are almost next to the Rijksweg with plenty of parking. Click here for address.
Specifications
| Type of Wine | White |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Bourgogne |
| Appellation | Puligny-Montrachet |
| Icons | Icon France |
| Winery | Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard |
| Grape | Chardonnay |
| Biological certified | No |
| Natural wine | No |
| Vegan | No |
| Vintage | 2018 |
| Drinking as of | 2020 |
| Drinking till | 2042 |
| Alcohol % | 12.5 |
| Alcohol free/low | No |
| Content | 0.75 ltr |
| Oak aging | Yes |
| Sparkling | No |
| Dessert wine | No |
| Closure | Cork |
| Parker rating | 94 |
| Vinous rating | 94 |
| Tasting Profiles | Complex, Droog, Houtgerijpt, Krachtig, Mineraal, Rijk, Rond, Vol, Wit fruit |
| Drink moments | Indruk maken, Lekker luxe |
Professional Reviews
Parker
The Wine Advocate
RP 94
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Drink Date: 2020 - 2035
Blockier and denser than the Criots, the 2018 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru unfurls in the glass with scents of honeycomb, orange oil, white flowers and toasted nuts. Full-bodied, fleshy and textural, it's lively and long, its rich core of fruit underpinned by ripe acids. Broad-shouldered and expressive, this will drink well sooner than the tighter-knit 2017.
As usual, Cécile Fontaine had bottled her 2017s just before harvest 2018, but this year she chose to close all her 375-milliliter sample bottles, prepared for tastings at the Domaine, under Diams, meaning the wines were likely a little tighter and more reductive than the bottles readers will buy. Fontaine described the vintage as inherently "powerful and rich," and began picking in late August. The results are true to the domaine's pure and elegant house style but carry a touch more texture and mid-palate fat than the 2017s I reviewed last year.
Published: Feb 13, 2020
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Vinous
94
Drinking Window
2022 - 2038
From: 2018 Burgundy: Confounded Expectations (Jan 2020)
The 2018 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru has a more expressive bouquet than the Criots at the moment, displaying greater mineralité and terroir expression. The palate is very well balanced with good acidity, and perhaps a little more cohesive than the Criots. A saline finish gets the saliva flowing. Excellent.
- By Neal Martin on December 2019
Céline Fontaine is often one of the most candid winemakers to converse with, when discussing the subject of the previous vintage, not averse to pointing out the challenges and setbacks during the growing season, as well as the successes. “We were stressed in May," she began, cutting straight to the chase. "The temperature was minus two degrees so we had to light candles in the vineyard. Fortunately it was dry and windy. Flowering was beautiful and we had long bunches. After that, from June it became very hot and quite dry, so the growth of the vine quickened. We called the pickers and told them to plan to come earlier. We came back in July to prepare the bottling and I’m glad we did, as we could begin preparations for the harvest that commenced 29 August. It had been dry in Chassagne and there was less rainfall here than in Meursault, consequently higher plots suffered drought and a bit of hydric stress, but it was very localised, on younger vines and on shallow soils. You could see the leaves in say Clos Saint-Jean turning yellow in mid-August. [She shows me a photograph with furling brown leaves.] Fortunately most of our plots are old and coped well. We commenced the picking in Volnay Clos des Chênes and Les Caillerets, analysing the berries so we knew where to pick. The grapes were very healthy with concentrated juice and thick skins, a little like 2017. Our whites in 2018 were picked between 12.5% and 13.0%, whereas the year before it was 11.8% to 13.5%. We were not expecting so much juice, which I think is due to the long bunches and because in August, the nights were quite fresh and vines were still active. In the end the yield was like 2017, the smallest in La Romanée and Maltroye, most plots just over 50hl/ha. We picked quickly as the malic acid was decreasing rapidly. The reds were beautifully balanced with good acidity, with slightly more sugar than in 2017. The 2018 is more powerful in style compared to the 2017 with a lot of dry extract. We did a quicker remontage and less pigeage than usual, whilst the alcoholic fermentation took a bit longer to finish. To finish the sugar for the first time we did remontage with oxygen because it is more efficient doing it that way. By the end of September [2019] all the wines were in barrel with all the sugars finished, leaving the reds on the lees for one year and racked between September and October. The reds will be put in barrel at the end of January, whilst the whites were racked in early July. Something new is that we have prepared the wines by fining in tank rather than barrel, as we have a better level of dissolved oxygen, therefore the Premier Crus are not returned to barrel after racking. They were in tank until the end of August and then bottled. We hope to have a bigger cellar in the future and maybe we can then have a longer élevage. The crus are aged in around one-third new oak. In the past we sometimes had to add some CO2 during bottling, but this year we had no need." Fontaine-Gagnard is a domaine in transition from one generation to another. I will not go into details as they were off record, but that transition is not necessarily without resistance and struggle as the philosophies and modus operandi of one must make way for another. Certainly the techniques espoused by Céline Fontaine are ones I support and I feel would benefit the domaine, including what, in my opinion, would address some of the premature oxidation issues that have dogged previous vintages, such as browning the must before alcoholic fermentation. Also, it is clear that it is a crowded cellar, inhibiting a second winter in barrel. Construction is already underway for a more spacious cellar and though there are the usual delays, once this is installed and longer élevages become possible, we could see some really excellent wines. But even with just under 12 months in barrel, the 2018s provide some excellent wines from numerous Premier Crus around the appellation. Not every cuvée hits the bulls-eye to be frank, but when they do, their wines come recommended.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
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Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard is one of the best producers in the village of Chassagne-Montrachet. The domain has its origins in the fine Gagnard-Delagrange holdings of fifty years ago, as the vineyards come from the marriage of Richard Fontaine to Jacques Gagnard's eldest daughter, Laurence Gagnard, in 1982. The Gagnard family is very close, with much of the vineyard work and the gracious Céline Fontaine heart and soul managing the family's Chassagne-Montrachets, such as the premier crus as well as the grand crus of Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet and Montrachet itself.
The style of the wines at Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard is intense, concentrated, deep and complex. These are Chassagnes that start life as classically balanced and accessible, but always with fine expressions of terroir and underlying structure to age gracefully. The wines are generally aged in about a third of new oak for the premier crus and slightly more for the grand crus. Celine's Chassagne Blanc is one of the villages of great value, but the real fireworks begin with the premier crus. The range of Fontaine-Gagnard premier crus starts with Chassagne "Clos St. Jean", always the most progressive of the premier crus and quite popular on wine lists due to its relatively early drinkability. Chassagne also has wines with a little more structure than Clos St. Jean, and capable of aging for fifteen to twenty years in a top vintage. The two best premier crus in the line-up are "Caillerets", whose very calcareous soils typically produce the longest-lived premier cru in the estate's portfolio, and their dramatic and always fantastic "La Romanée". The estate also has a rare holding in the small vineyard of Chassagne "Grande Montagne", which is located in the heart of the band of the best Chassagne premier crus at the top of the slope, including Virondot, Grandes Ruchottes, La Romanée and Caillerets .
Among the grand crus, Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard has one of the largest pieces of the smallest grand cru in the Côte de Beaune, "Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet". Clive Coates called the Fontaine-Gagnard Criots "one of the very best sources for this little grand cru." There is often a hint of exotic complexity in Criots, as it offers delicious herbal elements and an almost "salty" nuance that marries the layers of apple and pear fruit and a fine base of chalky minerality. Celine Fontaine is also an excellent example of Bâtard-Montrachet - one of the raciest and most mineral Bâtards - and a little piece of Le Montrachet itself. The red wines should not be overlooked here, as there is a robust and age-worthy Chassagne-Montrachet rouge, as well as the consistently fine Volnay "Clos des Chênes" and Pommard "Rugiens". All in all, Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard is one of the very best in Chassagne-Montrachet and a consistently excellent resource that we highly recommend exploring.
Bâtard-Montrachet is an appellation with an area of 10.27 hectares. Bâtard-Montrachet is one of the five appellations classified as Grands Crus of the Côte de Beaune, together with Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet, Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet and Montrachet. The vineyards of the Bâtard-Montrachet appellation are located exclusively in the municipalities of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet between 240 and 250 meters above sea level and are planted on a terroir of brown limestone and clay soils. The wines of the Bâtard-Montrachet appellation, which are made exclusively from Chardonnay, are among the most prestigious wines of Burgundy. The vinification methods remain classic. Fermentation with native yeasts, 12 to 18 months of aging in oak barrels. Only the amount of new oak varies for the wines, namely 15-20% for the Villages, 30-40% for the Premiers Crus / Grands Crus. All year round, from pruning, they work on the vines to give them the best quality potential at harvest (plowing, regular soil analyses, annual replacement of dead vines, integrated cultivation, etc.)
FACT : The wine is stored in our conditioned Wine Warehouse and if you pick up the wine you will often receive a nice discount. You will immediately see the possible discount if you choose Pickup in the Checkout page. We are almost next to the Rijksweg with plenty of parking. Click here for address.
| Type of Wine | White |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Bourgogne |
| Appellation | Puligny-Montrachet |
| Icons | Icon France |
| Winery | Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard |
| Grape | Chardonnay |
| Biological certified | No |
| Natural wine | No |
| Vegan | No |
| Vintage | 2018 |
| Drinking as of | 2020 |
| Drinking till | 2042 |
| Alcohol % | 12.5 |
| Alcohol free/low | No |
| Content | 0.75 ltr |
| Oak aging | Yes |
| Sparkling | No |
| Dessert wine | No |
| Closure | Cork |
| Parker rating | 94 |
| Vinous rating | 94 |
| Tasting Profiles | Complex, Droog, Houtgerijpt, Krachtig, Mineraal, Rijk, Rond, Vol, Wit fruit |
| Drink moments | Indruk maken, Lekker luxe |
Parker
The Wine Advocate
RP 94
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Drink Date: 2020 - 2035
Blockier and denser than the Criots, the 2018 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru unfurls in the glass with scents of honeycomb, orange oil, white flowers and toasted nuts. Full-bodied, fleshy and textural, it's lively and long, its rich core of fruit underpinned by ripe acids. Broad-shouldered and expressive, this will drink well sooner than the tighter-knit 2017.
As usual, Cécile Fontaine had bottled her 2017s just before harvest 2018, but this year she chose to close all her 375-milliliter sample bottles, prepared for tastings at the Domaine, under Diams, meaning the wines were likely a little tighter and more reductive than the bottles readers will buy. Fontaine described the vintage as inherently "powerful and rich," and began picking in late August. The results are true to the domaine's pure and elegant house style but carry a touch more texture and mid-palate fat than the 2017s I reviewed last year.
Published: Feb 13, 2020
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Vinous
94
Drinking Window
2022 - 2038
From: 2018 Burgundy: Confounded Expectations (Jan 2020)
The 2018 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru has a more expressive bouquet than the Criots at the moment, displaying greater mineralité and terroir expression. The palate is very well balanced with good acidity, and perhaps a little more cohesive than the Criots. A saline finish gets the saliva flowing. Excellent.
- By Neal Martin on December 2019
Céline Fontaine is often one of the most candid winemakers to converse with, when discussing the subject of the previous vintage, not averse to pointing out the challenges and setbacks during the growing season, as well as the successes. “We were stressed in May," she began, cutting straight to the chase. "The temperature was minus two degrees so we had to light candles in the vineyard. Fortunately it was dry and windy. Flowering was beautiful and we had long bunches. After that, from June it became very hot and quite dry, so the growth of the vine quickened. We called the pickers and told them to plan to come earlier. We came back in July to prepare the bottling and I’m glad we did, as we could begin preparations for the harvest that commenced 29 August. It had been dry in Chassagne and there was less rainfall here than in Meursault, consequently higher plots suffered drought and a bit of hydric stress, but it was very localised, on younger vines and on shallow soils. You could see the leaves in say Clos Saint-Jean turning yellow in mid-August. [She shows me a photograph with furling brown leaves.] Fortunately most of our plots are old and coped well. We commenced the picking in Volnay Clos des Chênes and Les Caillerets, analysing the berries so we knew where to pick. The grapes were very healthy with concentrated juice and thick skins, a little like 2017. Our whites in 2018 were picked between 12.5% and 13.0%, whereas the year before it was 11.8% to 13.5%. We were not expecting so much juice, which I think is due to the long bunches and because in August, the nights were quite fresh and vines were still active. In the end the yield was like 2017, the smallest in La Romanée and Maltroye, most plots just over 50hl/ha. We picked quickly as the malic acid was decreasing rapidly. The reds were beautifully balanced with good acidity, with slightly more sugar than in 2017. The 2018 is more powerful in style compared to the 2017 with a lot of dry extract. We did a quicker remontage and less pigeage than usual, whilst the alcoholic fermentation took a bit longer to finish. To finish the sugar for the first time we did remontage with oxygen because it is more efficient doing it that way. By the end of September [2019] all the wines were in barrel with all the sugars finished, leaving the reds on the lees for one year and racked between September and October. The reds will be put in barrel at the end of January, whilst the whites were racked in early July. Something new is that we have prepared the wines by fining in tank rather than barrel, as we have a better level of dissolved oxygen, therefore the Premier Crus are not returned to barrel after racking. They were in tank until the end of August and then bottled. We hope to have a bigger cellar in the future and maybe we can then have a longer élevage. The crus are aged in around one-third new oak. In the past we sometimes had to add some CO2 during bottling, but this year we had no need." Fontaine-Gagnard is a domaine in transition from one generation to another. I will not go into details as they were off record, but that transition is not necessarily without resistance and struggle as the philosophies and modus operandi of one must make way for another. Certainly the techniques espoused by Céline Fontaine are ones I support and I feel would benefit the domaine, including what, in my opinion, would address some of the premature oxidation issues that have dogged previous vintages, such as browning the must before alcoholic fermentation. Also, it is clear that it is a crowded cellar, inhibiting a second winter in barrel. Construction is already underway for a more spacious cellar and though there are the usual delays, once this is installed and longer élevages become possible, we could see some really excellent wines. But even with just under 12 months in barrel, the 2018s provide some excellent wines from numerous Premier Crus around the appellation. Not every cuvée hits the bulls-eye to be frank, but when they do, their wines come recommended.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
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Sign in to unlock professional wine reviews from world-renowned critics