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Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Domaine Leflaive







2017 Domaine Leflaive Puligny Montrachet...$124.98
(only 1 bottle left)
Leflaive's village Puligny is back as a reference point for the village under new cellarmaster, Pierre Vincent. Aged in 15% new wood, this comes from five different parcels and is tangy, focussed and appealingly stony, with good freshness and palate length. Drinking Window 2020 - 2025.

Rated 93/100 Decanter




2017 Domaine Leflaive Meursault Sous le Dos d'Ane 1er Cru...$194.98
(4btls)
The 2017 Meursault 1er Cru Sous le Dos d'Ane offers up aromas of green apples, tart Anjou pear, spring flowers and mint. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, with good concentration and chewy extract—Leflaive performed a green harvest on this young vines this year—underpinned by juicy acids and concluding with a pure finish. This is a promising Meursault in the making.

Rated 90-92/100 The Wine Advocate





2017 Domaine Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Pucelles...$394.99/btl
(7btls)
A discreet, even shy nose offers up attractively fresh and ultra-pure notes of citrus, honeysuckle, white peach and a hint of acacia blossom. There is excellent delineation to the intense, equally pure and seductive middle weight flavors that possess good verve and plenty of minerality on the solidly persistent finish that delivers outstanding depth. This elegant beauty is a refined mix of punch and finesse. (6/2019)93-94 points John Gilman

As I mentioned in the introduction, the 2017 Pucelles was the only premier cru here that was a bit closed down at the time of my visit. The nose is reserved and showed quite nutty in personality in November, offering up scents of almond, white peach, apple, complex, chalky soil tones and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and fairly powerful in profile for Leflaive Pucelles, with a plump core of fruit, good soil signature and fine focus, length and grip on the long and primary finish. This is going to be very good, but was not entirely happy about being tasted at the time of my visit. 

Rated 92-95/100 Allen Meadows - Burghound
The 2017 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Pucelles wafts from the glass with aromas of spring flowers, white peach, lemon, pastry cream and blanched almonds. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, elegantly textural but tangy, with a pure, fine-boned profile. It was quite reserved when I tasted it, so I suspect it only needs time to take on the breadth and dimension that characterize a great Pucelles, but for now, the wine is quite tensile and linear.

Rated 92-94/100 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of nectarine and minerals convey an almost oily impression as well as a note of reduction. Then almost shockingly penetrating in the mouth for such a dense wine, with its nectarine, yellow plum and anise flavors enlivened by scintillating lemony acidity. Finishes extremely long and perfumed. This wonderfully juicy, tactile wine offers a rare combination of thickness and inner-mouth tension. 

Rated 92-94/100 Vinous Media


2017 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru $974.98
(6btls)
Leflaive owns a comparatively large 1.8ha in Chevalier, running from the bottom to the top of the grand cru, so it's normally made in two separate lots. The oak needs a little more time to integrate, but this is another stellar performance by the legendary domaine. It's saline and elegant yet with understated richness and concentration - a world-class wine from a world-class vineyard.

Rated 97/100 Decanter
The 2017 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru delivers a vibrant but reserved bouquet of lemon zest, white flowers and crushed chalk that is still some distance from displaying all its breadth of expression. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and tensile, with a tight-knit core, searingly intense chalky extract and an electric sense of energy, concluding with a long finish. This is the most linear Chevaliers I tasted in the 2017 vintage, which was typically somewhat more open at the same stage in Anne-Claude's day, so it will be interesting to see how much plenitude it displays in bottle.

Rated 95-97/100 Wine Advocate




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