The Lower Step, Shared Between Two Communes
Bâtard-Montrachet occupies the lower step of the staircase of grands crus that structures this slope. Above it, the Montrachet is tiered between 250 and 270 metres, and Chevalier-Montrachet culminates between 265 and 290 metres; Bâtard lies between 240 and 250 metres, on the lower part of the slope. Like the Montrachet, it is cut by the communal boundary and belongs to both Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.
At its two extremities, two smaller grands crus have in a sense been detached from it: Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet to the north, entirely within Puligny, and Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet to the south, entirely within Chassagne. These five neighbouring appellations, which together fit into a few dozen hectares, form the densest concentration of white grands crus in the world — and Bâtard is, by area, the most important of them.
The Terroir: Thick, Clayey Soils
The whole difference with the crus above lies in the thickness of the earth. Where Chevalier works on thin, stony soils and the Montrachet on a thin soil laid over a hard limestone, Bâtard rests on thick, clayey brown limestone soils, derived like theirs from the Jurassic, around 175 million years ago. The foot of the slope receives the colluvium coming down from the hillside, which accumulates and thickens the profile.
The agronomic consequences are direct. The water reserve is greater, the vine less constrained, drainage less immediate: in wet years the risk of dilution is real, and the best growers work with low yields — around 40 hectolitres per hectare — and demanding vineyard management. In return, in dry and hot vintages, that water reserve protects the vine from the blocked ripening that threatens the leanest soils.
Climate and Exposure: The Lower Slope, Warmer and Earlier
The climate is that of the Côte de Beaune: temperate with a slight continental tendency, cold winters, wet springs, hot and sometimes stormy summers. Chardonnay buds slightly earlier than pinot noir and therefore remains exposed to spring frosts — a risk heightened at the foot of the slope, where cold air flows down and stagnates more than higher up.
In the growing season the logic is reversed. The low position, where the gradient eases, captures heat well and the clayey soils give it back: ripening there is more regular and more advanced than on the steps above, which gives wines richer in potential alcohol and immediately more generous. The heatwave of 2003, which started some harvests in mid-August a month early — an earliness with no equivalent since 1422 and 1865 — was a reminder that freshness, here, is something to be preserved.
The Style of the Wines: Power and Generosity
The robe is gold with mineral glints, often deeper than that of the crus above. The nose unfolds spice, honey, dried fruits, fern and butter, with immediate amplitude. The palate — harmonious, structured, unctuous and deep — stands out above all for its breadth: this is a wine of volume and richness, which fills the palate where Chevalier crosses it. That generosity is its signature — and its difficulty, since it needs acidity if it is not to become heavy.
Vinification follows the Burgundian canon: hand harvesting, pressing, settling, alcoholic fermentation conducted between 18 and 24°C, malolactic in barrel or in tank, ageing on lees with bâtonnage over several months. The wine keeps for at least ten to fifteen years, more than twenty in the great vintages. It is served between 12 and 14°C with lobster, crayfish, white fish in a sauce, foie gras or Bresse chicken in a cream sauce.
The Bâtard, the Chevalier and the Pucelles
The name comes from a legend of inheritance, related by Marie-Hélène Landrieu-Lusigny in her study of the lieux-dits of the Burgundian vineyard: the lord of Puligny is said to have divided his lands among his children, the eldest, the "chevalier", his daughters, "les pucelles", and his illegitimate son, the "bâtard". Hence three neighbouring climats that still bear those names, two of them grands crus — Chevalier-Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet — and one a premier cru, Les Pucelles.
The lawsuit of 1921 brought by Julien Bouchard and eight owners of the Montrachet precisely established that distinction: the court found that the wines of Bâtard, like those of Chevalier, had always been sold under their own name, never under that of Montrachet. The INAO register dates recognition of the cru to the decree of 31 July 1937, published on 11 August following; the cahier des charges in force derives from decree no. 2011-1724 of 30 November 2011.
A Much-Divided Grand Cru
Eleven and a half hectares shared between two communes means a great many owners. As recorded in the reference article consulted in 2026, the growers of the cru included Domaine Leflaive, Olivier Leflaive et Frères, Domaine Jacques Carillon, Domaine Vincent et Sophie Morey, Domaine Blain-Gagnard, Domaine Vincent & François Jouard, Domaine Jean-Claude Ramonet and Domaine Paul & Gabriel Jouard — on the Puligny side as well as the Chassagne side.
This fragmentation is no anecdote: it explains the variability of the cru. Depending on whether the parcel lies on the Puligny or the Chassagne side, at the top or the bottom of the band, and depending on the grower's hand, the wine will lean towards tension or towards opulence. Since parcels change hands with successions and tenancy agreements, any list of owners holds good only for the date on which it was drawn up.