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  • Country ranking ?

    917
  • Producer ranking ?

    30
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    2020-2035
  • Food Pairing

    Salads

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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 herbicid...

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Vintage 1996

1996 VINTAGE in Burgundy

Maturity levels were in general high following a long hot summer. The wines from the famous Pinot Noir have an intense ruby red colour with lush red fruit aromas. They are wines that are comparable with the outstanding 88s and 89s. The whites are just as outstanding full-bodied with elegant vibrant Chardonnay fruit and sweet white flower and grilled nut aromas. These are wines that have the potential to age magnific...

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Tasting note

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Written Notes

The 1996 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet had the classic Leflaive popcorn kernel smokiness.  There was great citrus and a rich, white meat, juicy poultry quality to it.  The fruit was great in a sun-dried way, icy with its crystallized fruit and possessing a smokehouse finish.  This was more than outstanding stuff, with ‘amazing length and BOOM’ per the Paradox (97).

  • 97p

Pale copper-tinged yellow. Bright fruit aromas of peach and apricot are complicated by nutty pastry shell and a suggestion of oyster shell. In an atypically ungiving style for a Leflaive wine, with penetrating acidity and a note of lemon zest still keeping the wine's fruit and moderate flesh under wraps. With its distinct malic edge, this is not exactly a fun drink today, but its long, echoing, stony finish suggests that it may yet provide more pleasure. And it's certainly vibrant at nearly 23 years of age. This was a year of slow ripening and stubbornly high acid levels, and Morandière noted that the malolactic fermentation of the Chevalier-Montrachet was late and difficult, only finishing during the second winter. Then-winemaker Pierre Morey did more lees stirring for the '96s than for the '95s in an attempt to enrich the wines, but it's clear to see that this was a vintage with considerably less stuffing than its older sibling. Acidity at bottling was 7.11 grams per liter (expressed as tartaric), the second highest of the tasting following the 2008. I can imagine it going on for another decade or two. (13.75% alcohol; 3.12 pH; the harvest began on September 21)

  • 92p
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Information

Origin

Beaune, Burgundy

Other wines from this producer

Bâtard-Montrachet

Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet

Bourgogne Blanc

Corton-Charlemagne

Macon-Verze Les Chenes

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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