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Etienne Sauzet, Montrachet Grand Cru 2012
WhiteFrance2012
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2020-05-26 · Published 2026-09-29 · Updated 2026-09-29
At a glance
In one line
5.0/5 — higher than Vivino's 4.6 average · world avg price US$1,099 · 21 of 22 Vivino raters gave it 4 or more; I gave it 5.
Wine-Searcher aggregate of 4 critic reviews: 94. Two critic scores listed on Vivino — barrel 91–93 (Dec 2013) · 94 (Jun 2014). Jasper Morris MW calls Sauzet's wines "models" among Puligny's most sought-after (quoted by Berry Bros. & Rudd).
Market note: Sauzet's Montrachet is a grand cru made from purchased grapes rather than estate vines. It sits above the same domaine's Chevalier-Montrachet (world average US$997) and Bâtard-Montrachet (US$856) (Wine-Searcher, Sep 2026). The 2012 vintage has only 22 Vivino ratings, so no official vintage average appears; neighboring vintages (2006, 2010, 2011, 2013) average 4.6–4.7.
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“very big scale. 이런 스케일을 따라올 수 있는 화이트 와인이 또 있을까? 매우 복잡하고 변화 무쌍함이 정말 멋지다. 올라오는 미네랄이 산토리니 풍경을 그리게 하고 뒤에 따라오는 산미가 매우 맑고 밝은 햇살을 비춘다. 요즘 코로나로 여행 못 가는데 한편의 여행을 그린거 같아 무척 맘에 든다. 피니쉬가 말도 못하게 정말 길다.”
Show original
“honey ripe citrus, oak minerals lemon stone tropical pear stone fruit tangerine vanilla brioche nutty grass very big scale. 이런 스케일을 따라올 수 있는 화이트 와인이 또 있을까?? 매우 복잡하고 변화 무쌍함이 정말 멋지다. 올라오는 미네랄이 산토리니 풍경을 그리게하고 뒤에 따라오는 산미가 매우 맑고 밝은 햇살을 비춘다. 요즘 코로나로 여행못가는데 한편의 여행을 그린거 같아 무척 맘에 든다. 피니쉬가 말도 못하게 정말 길다...”
What I learned today: even less than a sip, if its finish is long, can fill a whole evening.
Saturday, the first night open in the new year. I went in a little early to turn on the sign, and Master Seo was already polishing empty glasses. There was a first reservation, he said: four guests opening a few bottles of white Burgundy side by side, a small tasting. I lined up empty glasses at every seat. Half the loaf Mom had packed for me yesterday was still in my bag.
Each time the guests opened a bottle they went quiet, and only much later did they all start talking at once. When the last bottle was nearly empty, one of them said, "The last sip goes to whoever's working." Master Seo poured that sip into my glass. Pale gold. Honey, ripe lemon, pear, tangerine. Beneath it, wet stone. After a while vanilla, brioche and toasted nuts rose up. Long after I swallowed, the smell stayed in my mouth.
That long finish brought back a late-spring night. May when I was twenty-one, a Tuesday night with the window open. It was the spring when COVID kept everyone from traveling. That day Father had gone out to a small tasting with friends and came home late. He took a cloth-wrapped empty bottle out of his bag, stood it on the table, and tipped the few drops left at the bottom into my glass. Not even a sip. But the smell filled the whole glass and then some. He nodded at the glass as if to say smell it to the end, and turned off every kitchen light but one. I stood by the open window holding the empty glass to my nose for a long time. I don't know the bottle's name.
I opened the notebook to that date. It's one of the longest pages in Father's notes. He lists more than ten smells and asks whether any other white could keep up. He wrote that the rising minerals paint "a Santorini landscape." In a spring when no one could go far, Father seems to have visited an island across the sea inside his glass. The last line says the finish is unbelievably long. Five stars. The bottle was Etienne Sauzet Montrachet Grand Cru. I stuck a wine-name Post-it into the notebook. On the next date there is a Chevalier-Montrachet from the same house. They were opened side by side at the same table, and Father wrote that it "lost to the Montrachet's scale." Maybe that night Father chose the bottle that lingered longer and carried it all the way home.
Minjae came in only after the guests had all gone. The bottle was already empty. When I handed him the empty glass, he held it to his nose for a long time and, for once, made no joke at all. After closing, I wrote the bottle's name on the fourth page of my new notebook. Unlike the three pages before it, this is a name that's also in Father's notes. What I learned today: even less than a sip, if its finish is long, can fill a whole evening.
What this wine is
Montrachet is a 7.99-hectare vineyard split almost evenly between the villages of Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet. There is a record from 1252 of wine from "Mont Rachaz" being given to an abbey, and it became a grand cru AOC in 1937. Because it is counted as the summit of Chardonnay, a line about drinking it "kneeling, with head bared" is often attributed to Alexandre Dumas — though I couldn't confirm the original source.
Etienne Sauzet (1903–1975) built his domaine in Puligny from vines he inherited and vines he bought. After his death in 1975, his granddaughter Jeanine and her husband Gérard Boudot took over. The decisive event in the house's story is the 1991 inheritance split. The vineyards were divided among three grandchildren, and one of them, Jean-Marc Boillot, took his share and left. With less land, from the 1990s Sauzet added a négociant side, buying grapes from growers close to the family — and among those grapes is Le Montrachet. In other words, this bottle doesn't come from a Sauzet-owned vineyard; it's made from Montrachet grapes supplied by a long-standing grower.
Today Gérard Boudot's daughter Emilie and son-in-law Benoît Riffault run the domaine. It converted to organic farming in 2006 and to biodynamics from 2010, and the grand crus are raised with 40% new oak (Berry Bros. & Rudd). This 2012 is 100% Chardonnay at 13% alcohol.
What the world says
This 2012 vintage has only 22 Vivino ratings, too few for Vivino to show an official vintage average. The spread is ten 5s, eleven 4s and one 3 — 21 of 22 at 4 or above. Across the whole label it's 604 ratings averaging 4.6, and the neighboring vintages with more than 30 ratings barely move: 2006 at 4.7, 2010 at 4.7, 2011 at 4.6, 2013 at 4.6. Two critic scores are listed on Vivino: a barrel score of 91–93 (Dec 2013) and 94 (Jun 2014). The suggested drinking window is 2014–2024.
The community's flavor keywords run tree fruit — peach, apricot, apple (41 mentions) — then an earthy group of honey, minerals and stone (35), lemon and citrus (30), butter, oak and vanilla (24), and cream (21). Reviewers keep putting "young" and "complex" in the same sentence, and keep saying the aromas shift the longer the wine sits in the air.
"Pale gold. Young but seriously complex and elegant. Ripe citrus, stone fruits, tropical fruits. Smoky with hint of nuttiness, some oak and creamy. Very long." — Vivino review, Apr 2017, 5 stars
"Honey apricot apple smoke - what a bomb. Still young though" — Vivino review, Dec 2018, 4.5 stars
"Needs aeration for 2 hours. Constantly changing aroma. Still good for ageing." — Vivino review, Aug 2024, 4.5 stars
On price: Wine-Searcher's world average is US$1,099 per 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). Overseas retail runs US$1,080.81 at Naultia Wines in London (in bond), US$1,296.98 at Naultia Wines Méditerraneo in Spain and US$1,638.30 at 100 Millesimes in Paris. It sits above the same domaine's Chevalier-Montrachet (US$997) and Bâtard-Montrachet (US$856). The four critic reviews gathered on Wine-Searcher aggregate to 94. For reference, France's iDealwine puts its market estimate at €977 (as of 2026).
How I drank it
May 26, 2020, 5 stars. "honey ripe citrus, oak minerals lemon stone tropical pear stone fruit tangerine vanilla brioche nutty grass very big scale. Is there another white wine that can keep up with this kind of scale? The complexity and the way it keeps changing are truly wonderful. The rising minerals paint a Santorini landscape, and the acidity that follows shines a very clear, bright sunlight. I can't travel these days because of COVID, and it feels like it painted a whole trip, which I love. The finish is unbelievably long."
It was a small horizontal tasting with friends, opening Etienne Sauzet's 2012s side by side. The next day, at the same table, I gave the Chevalier-Montrachet 2012 4.5 and wrote that "on the palate it lost to the Montrachet's scale" — for two days, this bottle was the yardstick. The same week I also logged Chateau Montelena Chardonnay 2017 (4 stars, a morning picnic on May 27) and Robert Groffier Bonnes-Mares 2014 (3.5, May 28); the Bonnes-Mares note says I came to it with high hopes "after running through great whites" and was let down.
My 5 sits on the same side as the community spread, where 10 of 22 gave it 5. The other 5-star white in this magazine, William Hill Chardonnay, was a US$13 Californian; this bottle's world average is US$1,099, more than 80 times that — if that 5 meant "the best satisfaction you can find at this price," this 5 is an absolute verdict: "is there another white that can keep up with this scale?" The same five stars answered two completely different questions. I opened it in the middle of its suggested window (2014–2024), eight years after harvest. The line about imagining Santorini in a year when I couldn't travel is a record that what this bottle did for me that day was closer to the landscape than to the list of aromas.
Vivino community data
2012 vintage rating distribution (22 ratings, average n/a)
| 5★ | 10 (45%) | |
| 4★ | 11 (50%) | |
| 3★ | 1 (5%) | |
| 2★ | 0 (0%) | |
| 1★ | 0 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Tree fruit | 41 | peach 14 · apricot 9 · stone fruit 6 · apple 5 · pear 4 |
| Earth & mineral | 35 | honey 11 · minerals 10 · stone 8 · smoke 3 · truffle 2 |
| Citrus | 30 | lemon 14 · citrus 11 · tangerine 2 · lemon peel 1 · lime 1 |
| Oak | 24 | butter 8 · oak 8 · vanilla 4 · butterscotch 2 · chocolate 1 |
| Microbial | 21 | cream 11 · banana 4 · oil 4 · cheese 1 · yeast 1 |
| Tropical fruit | 14 | pineapple 7 · tropical 5 · mango 2 |
| Nuts & toast | 9 | hazelnut 3 · brioche 2 · nutty 2 · marzipan 1 · molasses 1 |
Structure: Acidity 3.3/5 · Intensity 3.8/5 · Sweetness 1.8/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 604 ratings, average 4.6)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 4.7 | 49 |
| 2010 | 4.7 | 59 |
| 2011 | 4.6 | 40 |
| 2013 | 4.6 | 36 |
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→Frequently asked questions
What kind of wine is Etienne Sauzet's Montrachet Grand Cru?
A 100% Chardonnay white made by Domaine Etienne Sauzet of Puligny-Montrachet from the 7.99-hectare Montrachet grand cru in Burgundy's Côte de Beaune. 13% alcohol, a full-bodied style of honey, peach and lemon layered with minerals, butter and cream. Wine-Searcher's critic aggregate is 94; the label averages 4.6 on Vivino (604 ratings).
How much does it cost?
Wine-Searcher's world average is US$1,099 per 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). Overseas retail ranges from US$1,080.81 (London, in bond) to US$1,638.30 (Paris). For reference, iDealwine's market estimate is €977 (as of 2026).
What food pairs with it?
The Vivino community suggests shellfish, pasta, rich fish like salmon and tuna, mild and soft cheese, and cured meats.
Does Sauzet make its Montrachet from its own vines?
No. After the 1991 inheritance split reduced its vineyards, Sauzet began buying grapes from nearby growers in the 1990s, and its Le Montrachet is made from grapes bought that way (Berry Bros. & Rudd, producer sheet).
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Wine-Searcher — 2012 Etienne Sauzet Montrachet Grand Cru prices and critic scores
- Berry Bros. & Rudd — Domaine Etienne Sauzet, Le Montrachet Grand Cru
- Hameau Albert — Etienne Sauzet producer sheet (PDF)
- Wikipedia — Montrachet
- iDealwine — 2012 Etienne Sauzet Montrachet price
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