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Wine Description
The Story
The Grand Cru Chevalier Montrachet sits high on the hillside overlooking Le Montrachet, Bâtard Montrachet and the village of Puligny Montrachet far below.
As a leader of biodynamic viticulture, Domaine Leflaive is renowned for the attention to detail and care that goes in to nourishing each vine from ground to bottle. This organic method of cultivation enriches the soil with plant-based compounds, thus sparing the vines of harmful herbicides and allowing the wine to exude the particularities of the Puligny-Montrachet terroir.
Their Grand Cru wines have consistently scored highly with Wine Advocate, Neal Martin describes them as “wines with audacity and ambition.” Le Montrachet, Batard Montrachet, Bienvenue Batard Montrachet and Chevalier Montrachet dominate Wine Advocate’s top scorers from this domaine, all of which are produced in tiny quantities. It is also worth noting that Neal Martin flags up Domaine Leflaive’s ability to “transcend the limitations of the growing season” – so even in less than favourable vintages their wines are worthy of consideration.
For those looking for an accessible opportunity to taste the top quality white Burgundy produced by this domaine, their Bourgogne Blanc and Mâcon Verzé provide just that.
Domaine Leflaive’s wines age excellently. Allen Meadows has previously noted that one particular vintage of Le Montrachet “even at almost 20 years of age… is still cruising along like it was only 10 as the freshness of the aromas is uncanny.” To help judge when the wines are ready to drink, Domaine Leflaive’s website provides an excellent database of recommendations by wine and by vintage.
Sol argilo-calcaire: 3 parcels in the Chevalier-Montrachet appellation.
Chevalier du bas sud: 6.5 ouvrées (0.69 acre) planted in 1957 and 1958.
Chevalier du bas nord: 21 ouvrées (2.22 acres) planted in 1955, 1964 and 1980.
Chevalier du haut: 19 ouvrées (2.01 acres) planted in 1974.
Surface: 1ha 99a (4.92 acres).
Method of culture: Long, gentle pneumatic pressing, decanting over 24 hours, then racking and running into cask of the must.
Alcoholic fermentation in oak casks, 25% new (maxi 1/3 Vosges, mini 2/3 Allier).
Maturing: after 12 months in cask, the wine is aged 6 months in tank where it is prepared for bottling.
Homeopathic fining and very light filtering if necessary.
Biodynamic: Manual harvesting with grape sorting and optimisation of choice of date through parcel-by-parcel ripeness monitoring.
Vintage 1989
1989 VINTAGE in Burgundy
Weather conditions were exceptional which led to a notably early harvest with perfectly ripened grapes in both colours. The reds with their velvety tannins have a fine colour, showing softer more elegant tendencies than the 88?s. They make a wonderful choice to drink on a special occasion. The whites in general were very precocious; ripe, powerful, rich, generous and well rounded; most should already have been drunk but the Grand Crus are superb for drinking now and over the next few years.
As regards the style of the 1989's, we now have one or two general impressions. The white wines are of great class. The Chardonnay in Burgundy has produced wines with ripe, powerful aromas and rich, generous body tending, in certain cases, almost to unctuosity. Initial comparisons have been drawn with 1971 and perhaps 1964.
The ripening of the Pinot Noir crop was somewhat hindered in several areas by unexpectedly large quantities of second generation grapes and extremely dry conditions. The resulting natural sugar levels were slightly lower than the recent yardstick year, 1985, but the fruit was in perfect condition. Overall quality will be good to very good.
The red wines have fine, deep colour and quite vinous, concentrated fruity aromas. They are well constituted and round and should be capable of ageing well. Initial comparisons have been drawn with 1966 and 1979.
In the Beaujolais, the Gamay has yielded powerful, fleshy wines lacking perhaps the charm of textbook Beaujolais. The wines are reminiscent of the 1978's.