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  • Country ranking ?

    710
  • Producer ranking ?

    19
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    now to 2030
  • Food Pairing

    Salmon and avocado blinis

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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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.

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Wine Information

Vintage 2004 / Autumn 2003 was mild, while January was very damp. 
February had mixed temperatures, but was sunny and dry (a record since 1945). 
Spring started on March 14 with very warm, dry weather (22-24° around the 17th), giving rise to fears of a second consecutive scorching hot summer. Return to normal at end-March. The vines resumed their usual growth at the beginning of April. A cool, damp spell followed. 

In mid-April, growth in vegetation was two weeks behind that of 2003 (a very early year) and a few days behind that of normal years. 
Vegetal development was slow at end-April and the beginning of May, with cool temperatures - especially at night - but with no frost. 
Warm weather returned around mid-May, setting off an explosion in vegetal growth. At end-May growth was still behind that of 2003, but was advanced compared with 2001-2002. 

The first flowers were observed on June 8. In Puligny flowering peaked on June 15, ending around June 20-22. The grape bunches grew quickly after a very good fruit set. July was very cool, especially at night. The start of the véraison (grape colour change) was observed at end-July (a normal date). The month of August was very rainy for 20 days. Fortunately, September was beautifully dry and sunny, perfectly fulfilling its mandate as the month dedicated to quality in Burgundy 's wines. Ripening continued in regular fashion. Chardonnay ripened more slowly than Pinot Noir, requiring a few extra days before being harvested. 
Harvesting took place in Puligny from September 25 to October 3. It was a very ripe, abundant harvest with an excellent sugar/acidity balance.

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Vintage 2004

2004 VINTAGE in Burgundy

2004 will be remembered as the year of wonderful surprises. The month of September was hot, dry and sunny contributing to an excellent harvest which in turn gave birth to fruity, elegant wines.
The harvest started on the 13th September in Burgundy, the Mâconnais and the Côte Chalonnaise during a long awaited spell of mild weather following a summer characterised by climatic instability. 

These conditions slowed down the colouring of the grapes, disturbed the start of ripening and provided ideal conditions for the development of oidium. Luckily the return of a long period of warmth and sun from the beginning of September onwards accelerated the ripening process with a sharp increase in sugars. 

This summery weather accompanied by a warm drying wind also allowed for the vines to maintain a satisfactory sanitary state. The hailstorms unfortunately destroyed a number of important parcels in the Mâconnais and in the vineyards of the Côte d?Or at different stages of their vegetative cycle. Contrary to 2003, nature showed herself to be kind and the wine-growers had to go ahead with intensive green harvesting to control the yields, taking off the damaged grapes or leaf-thinning. 

In mid-september estimations put the forthcoming harvest at about 10% above that of an average harvest. 

Although the particularly successful 2002 and 2003 vintages are tasting beautifully at the moment, it is still to early to define the profile for the 2004 vintage. 

We will have to wait until after various tastings in November in Beaune, Chablis and in the Auxerrois region before getting a preliminary idea of the qualities of the 2004 harvest.

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Tasting note

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Written Notes

Full medium yellow. A touch of musky yeasty reduction to the aromas of lemon, fresh pineapple and white pepper. Slightly tart lemony fruit is hardened by a faint herbaceousness and an edge of acidity, turning a bit green and peppery on the finish, perhaps partly due to incomplete stem ripeness. Still fresh but this will never be fleshy or opulent. The crop level was generous but "this was a complicated year for everybody," said Brice de la Morandière, "due to oidium and to a long, late-arriving maturity at the end of the vegetative cycle." A very atypical grand cru for Leflaive, as there's a touch of sourness on the aftertaste, not to mention a lack of flesh. (13.5% alcohol; 3.24 pH; the harvest started on September 25, with high levels of malic acidity in the grapes)

  • 91p

Pale golden, slightly richer nose than Bienvenues, and somehow slightly more focused. Fantastic nose, subdued minerals, polished schistes is some kind of description, apples and delicate flowers. Fresh acidity, superb balance and gorgeous length. Stunning. 97

  • 97p
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Information

Origin

Beaune, Burgundy

Other wines from this producer

Bâtard-Montrachet

Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet

Bourgogne Blanc

Corton-Charlemagne

Montrachet

Puligny Montrachet

Puligny-Montrachet

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon

Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes

Puligny-Montrachet, Clavoillon 1er Cru

Puligny Montrachet Les Folatieres

Puligny-Montrachet Pucelles

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