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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.
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.
