Louis Latour Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru

Louis Latour's négociant roots trace to 1797, but the house's white Burgundy philosophy was forged after 1891, when the fifth-generation Louis Latour replanted phylloxera-devastated vines with Chardonnay on the Côte de Beaune's limestone summits — a decision that shaped how the house approaches every white Grand Cru it touches today. Bâtard-Montrachet sits on the flat, gravelly-clay floor between Puligny and Chassagne, where shallow topsoil over Bathonian limestone forces deep root penetration, concentrating extract while the low elevation and broad, south-facing exposure delivers the appellation's characteristic weight and textural density. Latour's vinification is deliberately interventionist in vessel and temperature: grapes are crushed, pressed, and transferred hot into 228-litre French oak pièces — made in-house from air-dried staves — to complete both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, with zero lees-stirring throughout the 8–10 month élevage in 100% new oak, light long toast (45 minutes). The absence of bâtonnage is the house's deliberate counter-move against the creamy, reductive style many peers chase — texture here comes from the oak and the site, not from stirred lees. The 2018 vintage delivered outstanding balance of volume and freshness across the Côte de Beaune, producing whites approachable young yet structured for the medium term — Wine Spectator named the Corton-Charlemagne from this vintage a Top 10 Wine of 2021, reflecting the quality of the year across Latour's white Grand Cru portfolio.