1998 Bouchard Pere & Fils Chevalier Montrachet La Cabotte Grand Cru

1998 Bouchard Pere & Fils Chevalier Montrachet La Cabotte Grand Cru

From Hell to Heaven
This La Cabotte plot is a monopole plot belonging to Bouchard, a plot that’s right next to the famed Montrachet. Thus, the expectation is high to have good quality. Obviously I chilled the bottle in an ice bucket for 10 mins, and I could not wait to pour a glass. Upon having my first sip, my face was upset; lean, green and mean, far worse than the 1er Cru level wines! I gave it benefit of doubt that it’ll improve, and certainly the ice bucket was the culprit. Great wines cannot be drinking too chilled, plus it needed time to open up. Thus, when the chilled frost around the stemware went off, it’s time to re evaluate the content again, and suddenly now we’re talking! The quality of this La Cabotte, if you blind me, I’m almost certain it’s a Montrachet quality! You shouldn’t be surprised, as it was just a stone throw away from the Montrachet plot. The wine has this slightly oily and addictive character, totally encapsulated with elegance and feminine style, made this probably one of the best Chevalier Montrachet I’ve ever tasted (Ramonet made a killer Chevalier Montrachet for his 2009 vintage, with purchased grapes!), perhaps Michel Neillon and Leflaive’s Pierre Morey era would be close to such quality as well, but I really couldn’t think of any producer doing such an elegant styled Chevalier Montrachet. This was heaven!