This too is cool, pure and restrained with its notes of petrol and spice-inflected white orchard fruit aromas that are set off by just enough wood to notice. This is at once wonderfully sleek yet incredibly compact with its muscular, stony and tension-filled flavors that, like the Bâtard, are gorgeously long. This bone dry effort is very tightly wound and will require extended cellaring. Despite this, I would characterize this wine as a Montrachet of finesse.
95 points, Burghound.com
Domaine Blain-Gagnard is a small 8.50 hectare domain established in 1980 when Jean-Marc Blain (who came from the Loire Valley) married Claudine Gagnard, daughter of Jacques and Marie-Josèphe Gagnard of Domaine Gagnard-Delagrange and from which they inherited some of their vineyards. While they make some red Chassagne-Montrachet, Volnay and Pommard, it's their superb line up of Chassagne premier cru and grand cru whites that the reputation of this domaine is based including .46 ha Batard-Montrachet, .21ha of Criots-Batard-Montrachet and a tiny .08ha parcel of Montrachet.
Today, Jean-Marc has been joined in the winery by his son Marc-Antonin Blain who also took over the winemaking duties at Gagnard-Delagrange when his grandfather passed away in 2009 as well as starting his own domaine with 1.16 ha that his grandfather gave him in 2008! These are stylish wines with battonage (lees stirring) kept to a minimum to preserve acidity and purity and judicious use of oak from around 10% new for the village wines up to 30% for the grand crus.
