Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Grande Montagne" VV 2008, Bachelet-Ramonet

I have fond memories of the tasting at the Bachelet-Ramonet domaine in Chassagne when we were there in 2011. Madame would ask a question: "Qu'est ce que vous pensez de la Chassagne rouge 2008?". When I answered: "Arômes de fraise, un peu de cassis, un tout petit peu boisé", Monsieur guffawed with laughter and cried out "Fraise! Fraise! Bah!". Hopefully this was just their jovial shtick rather than a blunt criticism of my tasting skills. This white Chassagne 1er Cru from the glorious vintage of 2008 is an absolute peach of a wine. A clean and consistent hay yellow colour introduces a fragrant nose of orange blossom, short crust pastry, icing sugar and pear juice. This Chassagne blanc stars on the palate. It is plump, yet has lovely balance from the perfect acidity of 2008. To boot there is a rich finish which is slightly dry showing the wine's maturity. Fresh and fleshy, not drying out. There is pear, there is almond there is a hint of hazelnut, cooked lemon, really delicious. This is a poised, perfectly mature wine with no flaws. And such a treasure given it is 9 years old. Brilliant. Scores 84/100 which is a majestic result for a non grand cru wine.