No place on earth produces greater and more expressive Chardonnay than the cluster of Grand Crus that straddle the Puligny and Chassagne border—and whose names are taken from the greatest vineyard in their midst, Le Montrachet.
 
While Montrachet’s uncanny harmony of power and richness with nuance and finesse places it alone at the pinnacle, the cru closest to it in character is its immediate downslope neighbor, Bâtard-Montrachet. A great Bâtard is nearly as potent as Montrachet itself, with an exotic honeyed richness expressed with great volume, depth and length.
 
And one of Puligny’s  greatest vignerons, Paul Pernot, has been turning out brilliant examples of Bâtard-Montrachet since taking charge of his family’s domaine in 1955.
 
Year after year, his classic methods capture the essence of Bâtard’s powerhouse character. This stunning consistency makes Pernot’s Bâtard a perennial Burghound “Don’t Miss” selection. Yet, missing it is all too easy to do, largely because four out of five barrels Pernot makes go to négociants like Drouhin, keeping only the choicest lots for his own label.
 
This makes it very scarce in the market: a case in point is his great 2009, of which at the time of writing not a bottle is currently available elsewhere in the U.S. We have a small and pristine parcel, however, that we can offer...