[3] The brand began as a collaboration between French winemaker Thierry Boudinaud and British wine importer Guy Anderson that was launched as a company in 1995.
[1] Many American consumers, especially younger ones, have come to dislike traditional European wine labels that typically feature a picture of a classic chateau and are difficult to distinguish, understand, and remember.
[1] The brand name is said to have started off with an experimental batch of Chardonnay that had been kept in a barrel with yeast sediment longer than usual and had developed a very full-bodied taste.
"[2] The name functions as a bilingual pun, alluding to the buttery taste of the Chardonnay being similar to that of the famous appellation d'origine controlee of Bâtard-Montrachet.
[4] The production run for the first vintage was only 800 cases (about ten thousand 750 ml bottles),[1] but as time passed, the brand became the largest-selling French Chardonnay in the United States.