From purchased fruit, the Drouhin 2007 Batard-Montrachet leads with musky, animal notes and high-toned citrus oil highly reminiscent of the 2006 rendition. Lushly-fruited, oily-textured, and expansive, its persistent salinity and piquancy of toasted nuts help restrain and set-off its generosity of citrus and pit fruits and a savory segue between mineral and carnal notes lends intrigue to a long finish. Predictably for its site, this lacks the refinement or uncanny lift and complexity of the corresponding Meursault Perrieres, but it is far more interesting than many a Batard. I imagine it being best drunk over the next 5-7 years, and given its showing today, there is no need to wait. Veronique Drouhin-Boss expressed enormous – and, in my view, justifiable – satisfaction with the 2007 crop of Drouhin whites, admitting that their sense of concentration might strike some observers as paradoxical given the vintage’s relatively high yields. Regular batonnage seems to have been a successful policy here, at least as judged by flattering textures and overt richness (almost atypically so for the vintage) short-term. For an account of Drouhin’s Chablis from 2007, consult the separate report on that region in this issue. Importer: Dreyfus-Ashby & Co., New York, NY; tel. (212) 818 0770