Tasted in Puligny-Montrachet with Pierre Vincent, 29 March, 2021.
Domaine Leflaive
Place Pasquier de la Fontaine
21190 Puligny-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 30 13
www.leflaive.fr
Other reports with Domaine Leflaive.
For covid reasons, the domaine wasn’t available to taste at the end of 2020 but were more than happy to have visitors in the Springtime. They prefer this new timing as the wines are closer to bottling – closer to finished – it may be how tastings will be timed for here in the future.
Pierre on 2019:
“The vintage brought some complications; 5 nights of frost for example, all at the bottom of the slopes, and the weather was also poor for flowering – though good for quality – bringing coulure and millerandes. It’s not a crazy vintage despite the high level of sugar – the one problem is a reduction of 30% in volume due to already fewer grapes followed by the June and July heatwaves. We started our harvesting 11 September and this was a hot period too – the grapes gained 1 degree in 3 days; we have 13.5° for our Mâcons but up to 1 degree more in the Pulignys but with that really good acidity – pH 3.1 like a cold year – despite the alcohol of a hot year. Sugar and acidity – T think they will live long.“
The wines…
As far as the Puligny domaine is concerned, that’s about as great a set of wines as I can recollect from here. Chapeau!
DIAM seals here since the 2014 vintage. The Mâcons had been in bottle for 3 weeks when I tasted. The bottling of the Bourgogne would start the following week, culminating with the grand crus in June:
2019 Mâcon-Verzé
13 ha, a mix of elevage including some foudre but no new wood.
Thats a super nose of agrume fruit – a fine invitation. Easy over the palate, insinuation of acidity rather than incisive but the middle and finish are all that I could wish for – a super finish, almost juicy…
2019 Mâcon-Verzé Les Chênes
Les Chênes is the name of the lieu-dit, first time separated in 2017. West-facing vines. Concrete tanks, a little foudre, some 600-litre barrels- no stainless-steel.
A tiny reduction here. Also a calm entry with cool fruit, a little extra middle richness of flavour – long, slow-moving waves of delicious, slightly saline flavour – it’s a great finish, really long too, faintly mineral.
2019 Mâcon-Verzé Le Montée
‘High and north-facing, but…’ 1ha of vines – lots of silex in this area.
A faint note of oak for this wine. I love the scale and structural shape of this wine – open, still cushioned with some barrel, beautifully textured and long again. A super finish. For energy today take the first but these parcel selections have great finishes…
2019 Pouilly-Fuissé
Representing about 2ha of vines dotted around the rock of Solutre. Only barrel elevage with 15% of new oak.
An airier nose – open and super attractive. – more yellow fruit. Mineral and rich yet still with freshness – the best first impression so far. A shimmering minerality in the middle then holding a medium-weight line of long finishing flavour – a bit less expressive in the finish than the last wine but still long… Probably a more than excellent wine.
2019 Pouilly-Fuissé La Chaneau
From the foot of Solutre with very red soil that’s east-facing.
A narrower but deeper nose, a suggestion of barrel today but still fine. More incisive, more direct, also more vibrant energy – plenty of oak today though so wait a couple of years.
This will be a 1er Cru in 2020. All barrel elevage here.
Not as large a scale for the aroma here but the first with a little floral extra. Deep, then deeper, intensely mineral, saline, a massive wine but with the balance to match the scale – the oak very well absorbed already. The lead note is still the oak in this superbly long finish. To keep a few years but very impressive – bravo!
Three large parcels bringing 4 hectares, all in the commune of Puligny. 10% new oak. Ready to bottle. ‘14.5° but really nothing to see’
A little agrume style reduction for this nose, faintly floral too. Some gas – much more open, fresh, so easy over the palate. Really a vibrancy of finishing flavour here – different for sure after the PF but also superior to the PF – bravo Bourgogne – of course, as it should be here…
2019 Puligny-Montrachet
4.6 ha from around the village. Also ready for bottling
More width and showing an extra vibration to this aroma. Extra mineral with width and clarity, a little less richness of middle and finishing flavour but no less scale – morecairy and a little more oaky too.
From vines planted in 2004 and 1995 – the barrels are large-format – mainly 400-litres. This suffered a lot from the sun in 2019 some vines had their grapes completely grilled.
A different style, a wide richness of textured aroma – that’s lovely. Incisive, mineral, energetic – directly a great wine. I’ve been waoting for this type of performance for a few years – the early vintages were just so delicious now this wine is BACK!
This vineyard was planted to red in the early 1900s. Today Leflaive has a virtual monopoly of this large climat, as such it serves as their ‘laboratory’ a place where they try different treatment regimes, different pruning etcetera. It’s the biggest parcel of the domaine at 4.8 ha. The Chavy family have about 1 ha and together that’s most of the vineyard…
A more composed nose, still a width, more shaded to the mineral side, this wine. A hint of gas but also a shimmering minerality here too – fresh, mouth-watering, very attractive but a wine to keep for 2-3 years. Deeply finishing – now that’s a great Clavoillon…
From two parcels, just above Clos de la Garenne, usually the first harvested as this is a hotter location.
That friendly, airy, floral nose that Folatieres is famed for – super. Incisive and direct. Such energy and intensity – another great wine – really a wine you could open today, more so even than the Meursault…
At the limit of Puligny next to Meursault Charmes though these vines are not on the edge of the vineyard.
Another with a slightly reductive agrume and mineral impression – aromatically not full-power today. But in the mouth this is large-scaled, energetic, super Puligny – still a touch of gas to lose but so juicy in the finish – despite the concentration. Wide, saline, great finishing. Really great finishing – only the nose was missing today for grand vin
A wow nose – mineral, floral, full of energy – fabulous. Not fuller than Combettes but with flavour that is more accessible, more overtly layered in style, with a long, slow, diminuendo of finishing flavour. A great Pucelles.
A fuller nose, a more finely divided, almost granular, complexity of aroma. Mouth-filling but here’s a wine that showcases its structure – open, mouth-watering, melting with extra flavour – more and less depending on the direction vs Pucelles. But extra in the finish – a great, great finish – a little oaky today but of course that will fade.
2019 Bâtard-Montrachet
A more relaxed nose – average yield for domaine 38 hl/ ha – ‘correct’ says Pierre. Deep with a subtle reduction. Extra width, not the scale or obvious structure but here’s a richness of flavour without any heaviness – more weight in the finish – so long. So really long…
From the middle of the first terrace above Montrachet
Deep, mineral, faintly oaked, a little sullen in the higher tones. Great shape in the mouth, vibrant, mineral but still with all the positive attributes that you could take from the word richness. The most grandeur of finishing flavour; striking, complex but then becoming more and more delicate – great wine, no doubt.